Recruitment expenditure and agency staffing for CYPES staff from 2021-2025

Request 735517843 

Hello, 

My request is as follows: 

Children, Young People, Education & Skills (CYPES) 

Subject: FOI Request – Recruitment Expenditure and Agency Staffing  

Please provide the following information for the Department of Children, Young People, Education & Skills (CYPES) for each of the last four financial years (202122 to 202425): 

1. The total annual expenditure on recruitment, broken down by: 

• Agency staffing (including social care, teaching, and other staff) 
• Advertising and marketing 
• Relocation packages or bonuses 
• External recruitment services or headhunting fees 
• Any other recruitment related costs (please specify). 
• 2. The number of agency workers engaged in each of those years, broken down by role type (e.g. social workers, teachers, support staff, admin). 

3. Details of any master vendor or framework agreements for recruitment or agency staffing, including: 

• Supplier name 
• Start and end dates of the contract 
• Total value of the contract (or approximate annual value). 
  

Thank you for your help and time on this, 

Kind Regards 

Response 

The Government of Jersey has a financial year which is aligned to the calendar year. Audited accounts are available from May of the following year. This response is therefore in respect of completed financial years 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. 

1) Total expenditure on recruitment has been calculated to include payments to agencies for the services of all types of temporary staff supplied by agencies to all areas of CYPES and recruitment expenses for all staff whether permanent or temporary.  

a) The table below represents the total expenditure cost coded as recruitment services of agency staff across CYPES from 2021 to 2024  

​b) The table below represents the total expenditure by CYPES on cost codes relating to recruitment expenses, advertising and marketing and relocation costs. Further breakdown for external recruitment services or headhunting fees as well as any other recruitment related costs is not possible as cost codings are not available for these specific activities. Therefore Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 is applicable. 

2. The number of agency workers engaged in each of those years, broken down by role type (e.g. social workers, teachers, support staff, admin). Schools report by academic year and so figures provided are on that basis. 

The department have determined that to break down the total numbers of Teachers, Support and Admin staff being recruited, would disclose small numbers and would likely breach the privacy of individuals, therefore Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.  

​3. The Details of any master vendor or framework agreements for recruitment or agency staffing, including supplier name, start and end dates of the contract and total values of the contracts are exempt under Commercial Interests and therefore Article 33 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 is applicable. Any expenditure on contracts for recruitment and agency staffing will be agreed in line with the Government of Jersey Public Finances Manual. Details can be found here: 

Public Finances Manual

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 2018; and 

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

(3)   In determining for the purposes of this Article whether the lawfulness principle in Article 8(1)(a) of the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018 would be contravened by the disclosure of information, paragraph 5(1) of Schedule 2 to that Law (legitimate interests) is to be read as if sub-paragraph (b) (which disapplies the provision where the controller is a public authority) were omitted. 

Article 33 - Commercial interests   

Information is qualified exempt information if – 

(a) it constitutes a trade secret; or 

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

Public Interest Test 

Article 33 is a qualified exemption and as such, CYPES has conducted a prejudice test as required by law.  When responding to requests of this nature, CYPES are required to balance the public interest with the impact that disclosing this information would, or would be likely to, have upon the organisation and / or third parties. Whilst it may be in the public interest to understand the costs of contracts for recruiting agency staff, protecting the commercial interests of CYPES is an essential component in controlling public finances, which in itself is in the public interest. Recruitment services for agency staff need to be contracted and negotiated frequently to meet resource demand and cover periods of leave or absence of substantive CYPES staff, as required. Disclosing information relating to contractual service arrangements is likely to prejudice the commercial interests of CYPES and others.  

When considering the application of this exemption, CYPES has determined that whilst it is in the public interest to disclose information, this is outweighed by the necessity to limit any impact on its commercial interests in contracting future recruitment services and as such, Article 33 has been applied. ​