Advocacy service provided by My Voice (FOI)

Request

A

What are the names of the individuals involved in authorizing the announcement of the new advocacy service provided by My Voice?

B

What are the names of the individuals who signed off on the press release?

C

What monies have / are to be paid to the charity delivering the Advocacy service?

D

Why was this new advocacy service not put out to tender?

E

Who was the officer directly responsible within government commissioning this?

F

Is Autism mentioned in the application to fund this initiative?

G

What government criteria was this initiative measured against and does that criteria include autism?

H

Did this initiative have sign off from the Health Minister or have oversight from the Health Minister or any other Minister?

I

How will this initiative be evaluated?

Response

A

The announcement was authorised by Health and Community Services (HCS) Head of Communication, Associate Managing Director of Adult Social Care and Mental Health, Health and Community Services, Head of Learning Disability Services, Health and Community Services, Head of Jersey Adult Autism Services, Health and Community Services, HCS Executive, the Minister for Health and Social Services and the CEO of My Voice Jersey.

Article 25 (Personal Information) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied to names of individuals who can reasonably expect privacy (individuals below Tier 1).

B

The press release was jointly signed off be HCS Head of Communication, Associate Managing Director of Adult Social Care and Mental Health, Health and Community Services, Head of Learning Disability Services, Health and Community Services and the CEO of My Voice Jersey.

Article 25 (Personal Information) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied to names of individuals who can reasonably expect privacy (individuals below Tier 1).

C

This information is exempt from disclosure under Article 33 (b) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 as it would likely prejudice HCS’ commercial interests.

D

The 12-month pilot was not put out to tender initially due to the urgency and gap in services created over the COVID-19 pandemic. HCS was contacted by an organisation who advised us that they could no longer provide advocacy for people with Learning Disability. As the pandemic was at a time when people would need the most support for their voice to be heard it was deemed essential not to have a gap in service hence the decision to seek an exemption to tender process for a short period of time.

The 12-month trial was also not put out to tender as the actual demand for the service is not fully understood at the moment. The outcome of the trial will allow us to put the service out to tender with a clear understanding of the demands on the service.

E

There were a number of people involved in the commissioning of the service; Senior Change Manager, Commissioning and Partnerships HCS, Associate Director, Improvement and Innovation, HCS and Head of Learning Disability Services.

Article 25 (Personal Information) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied to names of individuals who can reasonably expect privacy (individuals below Tier 1).

F

Yes, Autism is mentioned in the application to fund this initiative.

G

Please see response to "I" below.

H

The Minister for Health and Social Services signed off the announcement but did not provide oversight over the initiative.

I

The initiative will be measured against the following;

• number of interventions by age

• number of interventions by gender

• type of advocacy required, statutory or informal

• the added value advocacy support provides for people when they are at their most vulnerable;

• navigate system

• lawful process

• family support

• best practice modelling

• better informed

• access to services

• reduced anxiety

• promoted equality

• safeguarding

• empowered

• inclusion

• care options explored

• % of patients rating the service as good or excellent

• % of professionals stating they are clear of the referral process to IAJ

• % of professionals surveyed who rate the service as good or very good

Articles applied

Article 25 Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.

Article 33 Commercial interests

Information is qualified exempt information if –

(b) its disclosure would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information).

Prejudice / public interest test

Article 33 (b) allows an authority to refuse a request for information where its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information). Whilst we accept that the public may have an interest in the value of Government of Jersey contracts we believe the exact contract values are commercially sensitive and that the release of this data could affect the negotiation of future contract values.