Government of Jersey

Hotels used by Ministers in 2023 and 2024 (FOI)

Produced by the Freedom of Information office
Authored by Government of Jersey and published on 27 June 2024.
Prepared internally, no external costs.

Request

Please provide a list of the hotels stayed at by each Minister during 2023 and 2024?

Response

This information is withheld under Article 38 (Endangering the safety or health of individuals) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

Ministers will often use the same hotels for overseas destinations they travel to repeatedly and security is not provided. Releasing the information would therefore place Ministers at heightened risk if someone wants to use the published details for malicious purposes.

In addition, although travel data is recorded, there is no central record of the specific hotels used by Ministers, and therefore it is estimated that to identify and extract the data requested from the records available would exceed the timescales prescribed in the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014. Therefore, Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

Articles applied

Article 16 - A scheduled public authority may refuse to supply information if cost excessive

(1) A scheduled public authority that has been requested to supply information may refuse to supply the information if it estimates that the cost of doing so would exceed an amount determined in the manner prescribed by Regulations.

Article 38 - Endangering the safety or health of individuals

Information is qualified exempt information if its disclosure would, or would be likely to –

(a) endanger the safety of an individual; or

(b) endanger the physical or mental health of an individual.

Public interest test

Factors favouring disclosure

There is a legitimate public interest the use of Government of Jersey’s resources the expenses incurred by Ministers during the course of travel.

Factors favouring non-disclosure

Revealing details of the hotels used by Ministers could compromise their safety should this information be utilised by people with criminal or malicious intent. This places the Ministers at unnecessary risk of harm.

Balance Test

It is recognised that there is a public interest in providing information in a transparent manner, however, on consideration, the Government of Jersey has concluded that the public interest in disclosing this information is outweighed by the risk that may be incurred by its release.