Code of Practice on Public Access to Official Information: Annual Report for 2009.

STATES OF JERSEY

CODE OF PRACTICE ON PUBLIC ACCESS TO OFFICIAL INFORMATION: ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2009

Presented to the States on 15th April 2010 by the Privileges and Procedures Committee

STATES GREFFE

2010   Price code: B  R.42

REPORT

Introduction

The Code of Practice on Public Access to Official Information was approved by the States on 20th July 1999 and came into force on 20th January 2000. A revised Code of Practice was adopted by the States on 8th June 2004.

The  Code  constitutes  a  States'  policy  and  affects  the  States,  Ministers  and  their Departments, Committees, Panels and any sub-committees and sub-panels.

The Code confers –

• a general right of access to information held by authorities which is (a) not exempt, and (b) created after 20th January 2000;
• a  right  of  access  to  personal  information,  that  is  information  about  an identifiable  individual,  subject  to  exemptions,  and  while  safeguarding  an individual's right to privacy. The authority has an obligation to correct any personal information held about an individual that is shown to be incomplete, inaccurate  or  misleading,  except  that  expressions  of  opinion  given conscientiously  and  without  malice  will  be  unaffected.  For  personal information, access is retrospective; and
• a right of access to agendas, support papers and Minutes, where these do not contain confidential information.

Further to the foregoing, the Code now includes provisions which have resulted in the creation of a central Information Asset Register'. The purpose of the Information Asset Register is to provide the public with a single, readily accessible point of access to the following –

1. strategic and/or policy reports;
2. reports deemed to be of public interest;
3. third-party reports or consultancy documents, which have been prepared for the  authority  or  which  are  under  preparation,  where  the  cost  of  the report/document exceeds an amount fixed from time to time by the Privileges and Procedures Committee; and
4. all unpublished third-party reports or consultancy documents which are over 5 years old.

The names of reports are added to the Information Asset Register which is maintained on the States' website (http://www.gov.je/Government/Pages/StatesReports.aspx). In the case of third-party reports or consultancy documents, details of their status and cost of preparation are also included within the Register, which is managed by the Chief Minister's Department.

The Code established a minimum standard of openness and accountability by the States of Jersey, which may, by its very nature, be exceeded.

Monitoring statistics

The number of enquiries received during the year ending 31st December 2009 was as follows –

Chief Minister's Department

A request for information from a private individual was refused by the Chief Minister and resulted in the matter being reviewed by the States of Jersey Complaints Board, in accordance with the appeal procedure set out in the Code of Practice on Public Access to Official Information. The Board agreed that no exemption could be legitimately applied to the information and asked the Chief Minister to review his decision (see page 6).

Education, Sport and Culture

The Department did not receive any official requests for information under the Code of Practice on Public Access to Official Information; however, it dealt with a volume of requests for information which did not cite the Code.

Health and Social Services

No requests for personal information were made to the Health and Social Services Department under the Code of Practice on Public Access to Official Information during 2009, although 399 requests for personal information were dealt with under the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005.

H.M.P. La Moye

H.M.P.  La  Moye did  not  receive any  applications which  mentioned  the  Code  of Practice on Public Access to Official Information, although it did receive a number of requests  for  information  which  were  dealt  with  in  accordance  with  the  Code  as follows –

Numerous telephone calls were also received by H.M.P. La Moye from members of the press in connexion with a high profile Royal Court case.

Planning and Building Services

Population Office

Probation

Two requests were made by the Jersey Evening Post and were corporate requests to which the Department contributed. A request was also received by the Department from an individual for personal information, which did not mention the Code. This request  was  received  in  December  2009  and  the  Department  responded  within 48 hours, however disclosure itself was expected to take some time as third party and exempt information would need to be redacted. The Department expressed the view that, if it were regularly asked for this kind of disclosure, it would not have the resources  to  oblige  and  would  anticipate  seeking  exemption  under paragraphs 3.2.1(a)(ii),(vi),  (xv),  (xvi)  and  3.2.1(b)  of  the  Code,  as  otherwise  all material would need to be examined in order to remove exempt information.

Social Security

The Department did not receive any requests which mentioned the Code; however, during 2009 it dealt with 34 subject access requests under the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005.

States of Jersey Police

All recorded requests for information to the States of Jersey Police came from the local media, and, while they were dealt with in accordance with the Code of Practice

on Public Access to Official Information, none of the requests for information made reference to the Code –

Treasury and Resources

N.B.:  Those Departments not mentioned made a nil return.

The table below shows the number of applications received and refused under the Code from 2003 to 2009 –

The States of Jersey Complaints Board dealt with its first complaint in respect of a refusal to provide information in 2009. This followed a decision of the Chief Minister not  to  provide  requested  information  to  a  private  individual,  and  resulted  in  an application by the applicant for his complaint to be reviewed under the Administrative Decisions (Review) (Jersey) Law 1982, as amended. The matter was considered by the Complaints Board at a hearing on 16th September 2009. The Board agreed that none of the exemptions could legitimately apply to the information and the Chief Minister could not, as a result, rebut the presumption of openness. It therefore asked the Chief Minister to reconsider his decision not to provide the requested information, and the Chief Minister subsequently released the information requested. The Board's findings were presented to the States on 14th October 2009 by the Privileges and Procedures Committee (R.115/2009 refers).

In  2005  the  States  adopted  the  proposition  Freedom  of  Information –  proposed legislation' (P.72/2005) and agreed that the Code of Practice on Public Access to Official  Information  should  be  replaced  by  a  Freedom  of  Information  Law.  The Committee would hope to lodge the Draft Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 201- in  the  near  future  for  debate  by  the  States.  The  format  of  this  Report  has  been maintained in the same way since the introduction of the Code. In the event that the draft Law is rejected, the form of monitoring the Code may need to be reviewed.