By Toby McIntosh
The Jersey States Assembly on May 4 approved a freedom of information law, but decided it will not go into force until the end of 2015.
Passage of the bill was nearly unanimous, but a separate action on implementation hinted at underlying tension with government officials.
The States Assembly also approved a proposition asking the Chief Minister to present an implementation plan by June 30, 2011. The proposition by Deputy R.G. Le Herissier of St. Saviour included tart criticism of the government, suggesting that it had delayed enactment.
The gestation of this draft Law has been long and it seems ironic that just as it gets near the finishing post, the PPC [the Privileges and Proceudres Committee] should have disowned responsibility for implementation on the grounds that: “The Committee has no jurisdiction over the executive function of the States of Jersey”. It may lack jurisdiction, but it can certainly bring influence to bear and, indeed, one would have expected it to be pushing mightily, given the numerous delays that have dogged this Law. Some of which are thought to lie with agencies of the Executive who have no real enthusiasm for it. Indeed, these agencies must be heartened by the onset of the recession, which gives them a further apparently disinterested reason to delay implementation.
One small substantive amendment was made.
Jersey, with a population of 92,500, is a group of islands off the coast of Normandy, France, that is not part of the United Kingdom. See wikipedia entry. Jersey is one of a group of islands called the Channel Islands, the others being Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Herm and a couple of tinier ones.
Cost Estimated by Ministers
Passage came despite months of discussion over whether it would cost too much. A report by the Council of Ministers said it would cost £5.6 million cost to implement, with annual running costs of £1.3 million, according to reporting by The Jersey Evening Post.
“They say that while they ‘fully support the principles of openness, transparency and access to information’, there is no provision for the spending in the Draft Business Plan setting out proposals for spending in 2012.’ ” The Jersey Evening Post said prior to the meeting.
According to the BBC, requests costing less than £50 in labor will be free but others may cost up to £500. “If it costs more than that to gather the information, the requests may be refused,” the BBC said.
Constable Juliette Gallichan, whose committee drew up the Jersey law, said it would make the government more transparent and hoped it would encourage more interest in politics. The BBC quoted her as saying:
“This gives a right to information unless that information is in the absolute exempt category. But public, official and statistical information, the costs of doing various things can be accessed, but not information like ‘does Mrs Smith have a house in St Mary?'”
“Knowing that people can get to the heart of the information they are looking for will make them realise that the government is not always trying to hoodwink them or to keep them in the dark but certainly if a government is going to be open then hopefully that will engender some closer feeling with the community.”
Jersey has operated since 2000 under a Code of Practice on Public Access.
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