Government Gifts and Hospitality register (FOI)

​Request

A

Please kindly provide a list of recorded gifts and hospitality received by civil servants from 2022 to the present date. This should be in a table format and be broken down by department.

B

Please kindly provide a list of recorded gifts and hospitality received by Ministers and Assistant Ministers from 2022 to the present date. This should be in a table format and be broken down by department.

Both tables should include: date, gift giver and receiver, department, exact nature of hospitality/gift received, value of this and, if recorded, reason for receipt.

Response

A.

Please see the list of gifts and hospitality recorded in the States of Jersey corporate register received by civil servants from 2022. 

Attachment.pdf​

Some information has been withheld in accordance with Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011. 

B

The gifts and hospitality for all States Members are already published on the States Assembly website, please see the link below. As this information is publicly available, Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied. 

States Assembly | All elected States Members​

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.

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 2005.

(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 2005; and

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

Internal Review request

Good afternoon,

Many thanks for this response. I would like to appeal this response on the basis that the information provided is not sufficient. 

Previous registers provided under the Freedom of Information Law have named the gift-giver and provided a description of the gift, rather than a high-level categorisation. 

It is not clear why a decision has been taken to depart from precedent, particularly as there is such a clear public interest in providing this information. 

I look forward to receiving a full response.

https://www.gov.je/Government/FreedomOfInformation/pages/foi.aspx?ReportID=844

https://www.gov.je/Government/FreedomOfInformation/pages/foi.aspx?ReportID=4027​

Internal Review response

This internal review has been conducted by an official of appropriate seniority who has not been involved in the original decision. As part of their review, they will be expected to understand the reasons behind the original response, impartially determine whether the response should be revised, and how so, considering the request and the information held, any relevant exemptions, or other relevant matters under the Law.  

The Internal Review Panel was asked to review the original response and confirm the following:  

Does the FOI request relate to a body to which the Law applies, or information held by a body covered by the Law?  

If the answer is no, all the other questions are not applicable.   

   Further questions if above is a yes:   

iv. Was the right information searched for and reviewed? (supply audit if possible) 

v. Was the information supplied appropriately (supply evidence if possible) 

vi. Was information appropriately withheld in accordance with the articles applied and were the public interest test/ prejudice test properly applied? (supply supporting documents re the test if possible)  

The Internal Review Panel (“the Panel”) considered the original response and agreed the following:

(a) that the response to Part B needed further clarification.

Before the current government, gifts received by Ministers or Assistant Ministers were required to be recorded with the States Greffe in line with the then-Ministerial Code (R.140/2022 refers). As of the current government, gifts and hospitality are required to be recorded on the Government of Jersey's register in accordance with the extant Ministerial Code (R.31/2024 refers).

(b) The organisations should not have been anonymised previously.

The data previously provided has now been updated as attached to display the organisation who presented the gift/hospitality and in the case of Ministers only, clarifying which Minister.

Attachment.pdf​

During their review, the Panel noted that there is no requirement to declare gifts/hospitality within a set timeframe following receipt. By virtue of this fact, this may mean there are declarations still to be made for 2024, which may result in the data changing if requested again at a later date. The Panel agreed that a recommendation should be made that as soon as reasonably practicable individuals should update the register for 2024.

Additional personal data was withheld in accordance with Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

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 2005.

(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 2005; and

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