Be Heard survey (FOI)

​Request

Please provide the results of the Be Heard survey in their raw data form (rather than in the States Members' briefing format already provided here:

HR Lounge and Be Heard Survey Summary Findings (gov.je)

As part of this, please provide:

A

Employee summary report

B

Departmental packs

C

Explanatory script

D

Hierarchy report

E

Please state how many individuals took part in the survey.

F

Please break this figure down by pay group.

Response

Raw data from the Be Heard survey is not held by the Government of Jersey as it is held by the company that provided the survey. The data is stored and managed anonymously by them.

A

Please see the attached PDF copy of the explanatory information provided to all staff through the internal Intranet site. Further information is included via the link above.

Be Heard MyStates content.pdf

B

Please see attached departmental level packs as requested for the following:

Chief Operating Office.pdf

Customer and Local Services.pdf

Children, Young People, Education and Skills.pdf

Health and Community Services.pdf

Infrastructure, Housing and Environment.pdf

Justice and Home Affairs.pdf

Office of the Chief Executive.pdf

Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance.pdf

Treasury and Exchequer.pdf

Non-Executives and Legislature.pdf

C

Please see the FAQ page on the employee summary report provided to all staff through the internal Intranet site.

D

It is considered that is report is exempt under Article 35 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

E

A total of 2,973 out of the 5,327 staff eligible to participate in the survey responded. Giving a response rate of 55.81%.

F

The responses were provided anonymously and therefore it is not possible to provide this detail.

Article applied

Article 35 - Formulation and development of policies

Information is qualified exempt information if it relates to the formulation or development of any proposed policy by a public authority.

Public Interest Test

In applying this article, the following points were considered, and on balance in light of the below, the hierarchy report is not being released.

Public interest considerations favouring disclosure:

• disclosure of the information would support transparency and promote accountability to the public; and increase public understanding of the views of public employees

• in the long term, disclosure of the views of employees may provide a positive incentive for leaders to respond and listen to the views of employees, improving the delivery and operation of public services, and supporting the reputation of the public sector, including the views of customers and prospective employees (accepting that disclosure may undermine leaders and lead to worse outcomes in the long term)

• disclosure to the public fulfils an educative role about the early stages in policy development and illustrates how the Government has engaged with employees for this purpose.

Public interest considerations favouring withholding the information:

• disclosure of the information may influence decisions by future ministerial and officer leadership teams as to whether or when to conduct a survey, if concerns exist that the results from a future survey may not reflect well on ministers or officer leadership teams, and that they would be published leading

• the information gleaned from the survey is the foundation to improved policy, and co-operation of employees was gained with the understanding that this was an internal process. Historically, uptake in similar surveys has not been high. Disclosure of this information may limit the willingness of employees to provide their honest views and feedback in future surveys (accepting there is a possible that publication of summary information may encourage more staff members to respond). This could hamper the Government’s ability to work effectively with their people

• lack of employee confidence in the confidentiality of the review process could potentially affect morale, performance, attendance and consequently, service delivery

• disclosure of the fact that a survey has taken place provides re-assurance to the public that Government takes steps to obtain employee views to identify positives, where change is necessary, and seeks to improve service delivery overall, and it is therefore not considered necessary, weighing up the balance of public interest, to disclosure the specific survey outcomes to achieve this re-assurance

• release of the information may generate debate that is not fully informed. This could affect the ability of senior management to consider and develop policy and improvements, including staff engagement, away from external pressures and to ensure the purpose of the survey is not undermined in this way.