Ministers purchase cards and Gifts and Hospitality (FOI)

Request

A

Which current Ministers/Assistant Ministers have purchase cards?

B

For each of those with a purchase card, please provide a breakdown of their spending on this card to date.

C

For each current Minister, please provide a full list of their expenses since being appointed to date, broken down by type, date and cost.

D

How many Minsters have had to refund costs to the Government of Jersey?

E

In each case, please provide the relevant Minister, the date, the sum, and what this sum was related to (i.e. food, accommodation, travel).

F

Please provide the gifts and hospitality register for all Ministers/Assistant Ministers since their appointment.

Response

A

• Chief Minister 
• Minister for Treasury and Resources / Assistant Minister for External Relations and Financial Services.

B 

(Since appointments into current roles in July 2022)

Chief Minister:  

£2,162.03 Travel related spend:

• Parking £15.20 
• Airport Transfers £387.83 
• Train £39.00 
• Flight £107.98 
• Hotels £1,598.02 
• Subsistence £14.00

Other spend:

• £144.00 umbrellas for Queen’s Memorial Service in Royal Square – now part of inventory for use at future events 
• £50.00 memorial wreath  
• £30.00 voucher for departing intern 
• £16.80 gift for staff member. 

Minister for Treasury & Resources / Assistant Minister for External Relations and Financial Services:

£6,180.40 Travel Related Spend:

• Parking £59.00
• Airport Transfers £80.27
• Trains £78.10
• Flights £913.00
• Taxis £130.00
• Hotels £4,876.05 (£3,108.05 for Minister Gorst and £1,768 for another Government of Jersey Officer)  
• Subsistence £43.98

C

No expenses have been claimed to date. 

D

None

E

Not applicable.

F

The Gifts and Hospitality Register for 2022 will be published in January 2023 on the Council of Ministers pages of the Gov.je website. Article 36 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied. 

Article applied 

Article 36 - Information intended for future publication

(1) Information is qualified exempt information if, at the time when the request for the

information is made, the information is being held by a public authority with a view to its being published within 12 weeks of the date of the request.

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground

must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant –

(a) of the date when the information will be published;

(b) of the manner in which it will be published; and

(c) by whom it will be published.

(3) In this Article, “published” means published –

(a) by a public authority; or

(b) by any other person.

Public Interest Test

Article 36 is a qualified exemption, which means that a public interest test has to be undertaken to examine the circumstances of the case and decide whether, on balance, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.  

Public interest considerations favouring disclosure  

• disclosure of the information would support transparency and promote accountability to the general public. •

Public interest considerations favouring withholding the information  

• it is intended to publish the report within 12 weeks of the receipt of this request on www.gov.je. In it is reasonable for government to publish reports in an orderly manner, following completion of appropriate internal processes, and publishing in advance, and in such close proximity to expected publication date, would potentially undermine the orderly publication and conduct of government work (when the public benefit of earlier publication under the Law would derive limited benefit).