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The Chief Minister has teased a potential overhaul of the island’s Freedom of Information legislation, which he said comes with a "multimillion-pound price tag" – more than a decade after politicians pledged to extend the scope of law to cover arms-length bodies.
Deputy Lyndon Farnham made the comments during yesterday's States sitting.
Jersey's Freedom of Information law – which gives the public the right to access information held by public authorities – came into force in 2011, more than a decade after the Freedom of Information Act was introduced in the UK in 2000.
Deputy Farnham said that when the Freedom of Information law came into force in the island, it was estimated that there would be around 60 requests a year – but there are now around 1,000 annually.
Those rising figures come with a "multi-million-pound price tag", according to the Chief Minister.
In 2014, local politicians agreed to extend Jersey's Freedom of Information law to companies wholly-owned by the States, or in which the States has a controlling interest.
That proposition, which was brought by Deputy Carolyn Labey, asked the government to "report back to the States with recommendations within six months".
In the following years, Deputy Labey asked for progress reports, and was told by then-Chief Minister Ian Gorst that achieving what had been agreed was more complicated than expected.
Government departments, parishes, the States of Jersey Police, and Andium Homes are all covered by the Freedom of Information law – but arms-length bodies which receive Government funding, like the JFSC and Digital Jersey, still fall outside its scope.
Deputy Steve Ahier yesterday asked the Chief Minister about the progress on this decade-old commitment to extend the law, and clarity on which organisations would be affected by the extension.
Deputy Farnham said this had "not been decided as yet", adding: "Further discussions will be needed around that in line with Deputy Carolyn Labey of Grouville's original proposition.
"It is a work in progress and a fairly complex issue with different ramifications for different organisations."
Pictured: Deputy Lyndon Farnham is the Chief Minister.
He added: "We should probably review the current FOI law, because it has been in place for a number of years, and we have learned a lot.
"When it was put into place, it was estimated that there would be around 60 FOI requests a year, we have about a thousand now – and a multimillion-pound price tag which comes with that.
"The Council of Ministers will come back to the Assembly with any recommendations we might have on that law."
Earlier in the questioning period, Deputy Raluca Kovacs pressed the Chief Minister on how much "priority" past propositions hold for the current government.
Deputy Farnham said: "The past decisions of this Assembly are given proper consideration by the government.
"If circumstances have changed, that might lead the government to want to not follow the decision of the Assembly, and I believe the correct process is to ultimately bring a rescindment.
"It is important to try and stick to deadlines where we can. This is not always possible and when it's not possible, I apologise for that.
"If the government wants to row back on a proposition, we should bring it back for debate."
On what he would do to monitor progress, the Chief Minister said: "We have the States decision tracker, but I will undertake to discuss with officials how departments are monitoring that.
"A number of work streams are regularly monitored and discussed at weekly ministerial meetings, but I will look to see if that needs tightening up.
"Where we have missed or are planning to miss targets by the Assembly, we will keep members updated."
Data on the gov.je website shows that the number of requests made under the Freedom of Information law are increasing year-on-year.
Until the end of July this year, 680 request had been made compared to around 560 in 2017.
Pictured: The number of FOI requests submitted so far this year.
Anyone can submit an FOI request via an online form or sending an email to the relevant public authority, but you should first check whether the information is published and already available.
You can find out more information here.
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