Submission of election expenses (FOI)

Request

Please indicate the following information for the last three General Elections to the States Assembly:

A

How many candidates ran for election in total?

B

Of the candidates who ran for election, how many submitted their expenses form outside of the 15 day window as stipulated by the Public Elections law?

C

Of the candidates who ran for election, how many failed to submit their expenses form altogether?

D

Of those who either submitted their form late or failed to submit altogether, how many have been cautioned, criminally charged, or faced other disciplinary action as a consequence?

Response

The information requested which we hold in response to questions A, B and C of this request is publicly available to the applicant and therefore absolutely exempt under Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 (FOI Law) and we decline to supply the information requested.

As required by Article 23 we provide below a description of where the applicant may obtain the information.

The lists of candidates in all elections since 2011 are available on www.vote.je.

As required by Article 16 of the Public Elections (Expenditure and Donations) (Jersey) Law 2014, all expenses declaration forms received by the Judicial Greffier, including the date they were received, are available for inspection at the Judicial Greffe during normal working hours.

Consulting the information on www.vote.je and the expenses declarations with their dates of receipt at the Judicial Greffe will allow questions A, B and C to be answered.

The decision to take action in response to a form being late or not submitted is a matter for the Law Officers’ Department which is not obliged to respond to any Freedom of Information request as it is not a Scheduled Public Authority under the FOI Law. Therefore we are unable to answer question D.

Articles applied

Article 23 Information accessible to applicant by other means

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it is reasonably available to the applicant, otherwise than under this Law, whether or not free of charge.

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant where the applicant may obtain the information.

References

The Public Elections (Expenditure and Donations) (Jersey) Law 2014

Article 16 - Greffier to make declarations available for inspection

The Greffier shall make declarations received by him or her under this Law available for inspection, free of charge, at the offices of the Judicial Greffe, during normal working hours.