Guidance prepared for the use of relevant officials of the department with regard to the interpretation of the word 'vicinity'

​Request 839733614

Please provide a copy of the written guidance prepared for the use of relevant officials of the department with regard to the interpretation of the word 'vicinity' in Art.1(1)(b) of the Day Care of Children (Jersey) Law 2002. If there is no such guidance, please set out the Minister's reasons as to why there is not and the considerations he or she would take into account in interpreting it in any given, relevant, potential registration situation. Please give, as necessary in an anonymised way but by reference to physical or spatial geography, details of (i) how many cases over the last five years there have been where the need for the meaning of the noun to be interpreted by officials has been a matter of practical import for the proper administration of the Law; (ii) the interpretation or interpretations that have duly been made in those cases, drawing out any generally applicable considerations that will always have been weighed; and (iii) how, and the extent to which, those interpretations have been reviewed or moderated by senior management pursuant to the Minister's duty as registrant under the Law.

Response

The Scheduled Public Authority (SPA) does not have published guidance in relation to this matter. The term ‘vicinity’ is not defined in the legislation and as such the interpretation of it will depend on the context and circumstances. It is not necessary to publish guidance on this.

The SPA do not have any recorded cases of challenge to the interpretation or application of the word 'vicinity' in Art.1(1)(b) of the Day Care of Children (Jersey) Law 2002 by officers. Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 is applied.

Article 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.​