THE public could finally be given the right to request information from government-owned entities such as Ports of Jersey and the Jersey Financial Services Commission – a decade after the States Assembly approved the change.
After multiple requests from the JEP, the Council of Ministers has confirmed that it would discuss a successful 2014 proposition by Deputy Carolyn Labey to add so-called arm’s-length organisations – which are responsible for millions of pounds of public money – to the Island’s 2011 Freedom of Information legislation.
Doing so would allow the public to request information about their work and finances but successive governments have failed to enact the change.
The government did not commit to enacting the changes into law, in its response to this newspaper.
But in a statement, Deputy Chief Minister Tom Binet said: “In 2014 the States Assembly asked that the Freedom of Information Law be extended to independent publicly owned bodies.
“This has not been implemented by previous governments, and the Council of Ministers will discuss later this year whether it can practically be delivered alongside our [other] priorities.”
Since it was enacted, the FoI law has allowed journalists and members of the public to expose scandals, including the £500,000 golden handshake given to former government chief executive Charlie Parker. It was also used by the JEP’s sister title, Bailiwick Express, to force the government to make public the details of Mr Parker’s contract in 2018.
Deputy Labey’s 2014 proposition asked the government to expand the scope of FoI legislation to cover all government-owned entities, as well as those in which the government has a controlling interest.
“It is the Jersey taxpayer who has funded these bodies and owns the assets they manage and deliver,” Deputy Labey wrote at the time. “I can therefore see no reason why these entities should not disclose information that is required by those who own them.”
In comments published two months after the States approved Deputy Labey’s proposition, ministers at the time said that the companies owned or controlled by the government “operate in a commercial environment and we should be wary of imposing on them higher costs and more rigorous requirements than their competitors”. It rejected the proposition but said it would report back to the States within six months, but it appears that it never did.
Since it was enacted in 2011, the FoI Act has mostly been used by individuals to request information, and in 2023 nearly 80% of requests were made by members of the public. One of the largest areas of interest is public sector spending and expenses, making up 150 requests in 2023. By far the most requested department is Housing, followed by Health and Community Services. The law requires the government to respond within 20 days, or find an exemption that precludes the release of the information, of which there are many.
The man who first enacted the legislation in the UK, former Prime Minister Tony Blair, later wrote in his memoirs: “Freedom of Information. Three harmless words. I look at those words as I write them, and feel like shaking my head till it drops off my shoulders. You idiot. You naive, foolish, irresponsible nincompoop.”
The UK saw 70,475 FoI requests across all monitored bodies in 2023, an increase of 34% on 2022 and the largest amount since monitoring began in 2005.
As written, Jersey’s legislation requires any organisation listed as Schedule 1 to comply with FoI requests, including government departments, parishes, Andium Homes and the children’s commissioner.
Deputy Labey’s proposition sought to add the Jersey Development Company, Jersey Post, Jersey Telecom, Jersey Electricity, Jersey Water and all other companies wholly owned by the States or in which the government held a controlling interest as majority shareholder.
Other so-called arm’s-length bodies in which the government has a controlling interest as a majority shareholder include Digital Jersey, Visit Jersey, Jersey Sport, the Jersey Arts Trust, the Jersey Arts Centre Association, Jersey Opera House, the Jersey Heritage Trust, Employ Jersey, Jersey Finance, Jersey Business, the Jersey Advisory and Conciliation Service, the Jersey Consumer Council and Citizens Advice Jersey.
