Freedom of Information legislation gives you the right to obtain information held by public authorities. The States have agreed to include Andium Homes in this legislation. Under FOI, everyone has equal rights to access this information. All you have to do is ask us for the information you want.
Before making a request
There’s already a lot of information we make available. You may find the answer to your question online before you make a request.
If the information you’re requesting is already publicly available, your request may be refused.
If we can, we’ll point you in the direction of where the information you need can be found.
Making sure your request is valid under FOI law
You must make your Freedom of Information request in writing.
You must provide:
- your full name
- a contact address (such as an email address or a postal address)
- a clear description of the information you want to receive
You don’t have to tell us why you want the information.
What you can ask for
FOI requests can be made about any aspect of Andium Homes and our work.
FOI covers all information held by Andium Homes, except requests for personal information about yourself. To access any information held about yourself, you’ll need to make a ‘subject access request’ under the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018.
If the information refers to someone else, the FOI law will only allow us to release the information if it complies with the principles of data protection.
Asking for information in a particular format
We’ll aim to give you the information in a format that will allow you to access it easily. We cannot create bespoke documents or provide the information in less common file types.
Keeping records
Information is not kept forever, but some of it is kept for a long time. We maintain a list of what information we need to keep and for how long it must be kept.
These are maintained in line with any legislation and standards that relate to information eg keeping financial records for audit purposes. Some of our information is also passed to the Jersey Archive for safe-keeping or preservation.
Information may not be kept forever because:
- it would be too costly to store and maintain
- the more information that is kept, the harder it may be to identify specific information when someone needs it
How to make a request
If you’re requesting information under FOI, you must make your request in writing, by emailing us to foi@andiumhomes.je or sending us a letter. You can download a request form and return it to our office.
Download Freedom of Information request form (size 64kb)
Writing your request
Be specific
When writing your FOI request, be as specific as you can. This will help us to identify the information you want and reduce the chance of your request being misinterpreted.State the precise time period for the information you want. If the information you ask for covers a very broad time period, your request may be refused as it could take us too much time to respond.
Try to keep your request clear and objective as this will help us understand what you’re asking for and process your request more efficiently.
Aim for one question per request
Asking for lots of different information can make it difficult for us to understand what you really want to know.Try to ask only one question in a request rather than asking several questions.
We can help
If you need help with writing your FOI request, there are a number of things you can do:
- send us an email with your name, postal address and phone number
- ask a friend or relative or someone from your local community to help you
Why we need your name and contact address
We need your name and contact details so we can process your information request. FOI legislation requires that you give us a name and correspondence address when you make an FOI request.
Your information will be passed to various teams within the Company so that they can provide a response to your request, but it won’t be passed on to any other third party without your prior consent.
Do you have to pay to make an FOI request?
You don’t need to pay to make an FOI request, however, the FOI law recognises that there has to be a limit on the amount of time and staff resources we can spend answering an FOI request.
Your request may be refused under FOI legislation if we estimate that it will take us more than 12 and a half hours to answer. This is called the cost limit. However, we may contact you to help you refine your information request so that it will take us less than 12 and a half hours to answer. If we think it will take fewer than 12 and a half hours, your request will be answered free of charge.
When we may refuse your request
We may refuse your FOI request and not release information if:
- it could prejudice a criminal investigation
- it could endanger national security or it is, or relates to, information received from intelligenceorganisations
- it contains personal information
- you don’t make your request in writing or fail to provide a name and contact address
- your information request is intended to cause administrative difficulty (a vexatious request)
Our response to your FOI request
Hearing back from us
You’ll receive a response to your request from Andium Homes within 20 working days.
If you’re not content with the response we send you, you should outline your concerns and request an internal review. You’ll find the contact details on your response email or letter.
We will then review your concerns and you’ll be advised what to do next if you’re still dissatisfied.
FOI exemptions
Your Freedom of Information (FOI) request may have been refused if the information you asked for falls under an FOI exemption.
Absolute exemptions
Any request for information that falls under an absolute exemption won’t be released. Absolute exemptions are:
- court information
- information that may endanger national security or it is, or relates to, information received from intelligence organisations
- personal information
- States Assembly Privileges
- information already available and accessible to you somewhere else (we will try to tell you where)
- confidential information
- other prohibitions or restrictions (where the legislation includes a non-disclosure provision)
Qualified exemptions
These are exemptions where a public interest test is applied.
This test helps decide if releasing the information is in the interest of the public. The information may be withheld if we consider that the public interest in withholding is greater than the public interest in releasing it.
Qualified exemptions are:
- anything that may endanger the health and safety of individuals
- legal professional privilege (as this protects confidential information between lawyers and their clients)
- commercial interests
- the economy
- policy formulation and development
- audit functions
- employment
- defence
- law enforcement
- international relations
- information intended for future publication (as long as the decision to publish is made before the FOI request is received)
- advice from the Bailiff, Deputy Bailiff or a Law Officer
- royal family communications and honours-related information