Contracts of Environmental Health officers

​Request 758431552 

Please supply the following: 

1.The number of “contract” or temporarily employed environmental health officers employed in 2024 and Jan - end Sept 2025 by The Government of Jersey 

2.The hourly rate of pay to “contract “officers 

3. The average length of service by “contract” officers  

4. The length of time between inspections for catering establishments in Jersey 

5. What exact protocol is used to rate restaurants 

Response 

1 

In 2024, there were no ‘contract’ or temporarily employed environmental health officers employed; therefore Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied. 

The information requested for January to September 2025 has been withheld under Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 as the information relates to fewer than 5 individuals. 

2 

The Scheduled Public Authority (SPA) does not hold the hourly rate of pay for ‘contract’ officers; therefore Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied. 

3 

To protect the identity of individuals, the length of service has been withheld as the information relates to fewer than 5 individuals. Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has therefore been applied. 

4 

There is no Statutory Requirement that prescribes the time between inspections for Catering Establishments in Jersey.  

5 

The information you have requested is exempt under Article 35 (Formulation and development of policies) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 because the Standard Operating Procedure is being developed. Article 35 is a qualified exemption; therefore, a public interest test has been applied and is shown at the end of this response 

Articles applied 

Article 3 - Meaning of “information held by a public authority” 

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if – 

(a)     it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or 

(b)     it is held by another person on behalf of the authority. 

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.  

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 

The Government of Jersey are withholding the release of certain parts of the information you have requested as it relates to the formulation and development of policy and procedure  

Article 35 is a qualified exemption, which means that a public interest test is required.  

The following considerations were taken into account: 

Public interest considerations favouring disclosure  

• Disclosure of the information would support transparency and promote accountability to the general public, providing confirmation that the necessary discussions have taken place. 

• Disclosure to the public fulfils an educative role about the early stages in policy development and illustrates how the department engages with parties for this purpose.   

Public interest considerations favouring withholding the information  

•  In order to best develop policy and provide advice to Ministers, officials need a safe space in which free and frank discussion can take place – discussion of how documentation is presented and provided is considered as integral to policy development as iterations of documents are demonstrative of the policy development process.  
• The need for this safe space is considered at its greatest during the live stages of a policy.  
• Release of the information at this stage might generate misinformed debate in. This would affect the ability of officials to consider and develop policy away from external pressures, and to advise Ministers appropriately.  
• Premature disclosure of this information may limit the willingness of parties to provide their honest views and feedback. This would hamper and harm the policy–making process not only in relation to this subject area but in respect of future policy development across wider Departmental business. 

Following assessment the Government of Jersey have concluded that, on balance, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.   

It should also be noted that once a policy is formulated and published, the public interest in withholding information relating to its formulation is diminished, however, the use of the exemption can be supported if it preserves sufficient freedom during the policy formulation phase to explore options without that process being hampered by some expectation of future publication. 

The SPA has concluded that, on balance, the risk of causing significant concerns or spreading misinformation, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the benefits disclosing the information.