Guernsey Press

Syrian refugees FoI dispute ‘important point of principle’

POLICY & Resources president Gavin St Pier has insisted the committee supports transparency as it continues to fight against the release of correspondence between the Home Office and the island.

Published
(Picture by Adrian Miller, 22876917)

A freedom of information battle is being played out over publishing exchanges about the Syrian refugee resettlement programme.

The Home Office wants to appeal a unanimous decision by a tribunal that it was in the public interest that the information should be released and has won the support of the three Crown Dependencies to help make its case.

‘The Policy & Resources Committee supports transparency, indeed the publication of our correspondence with the Prime Minister about Brexit is a prime example,’ said Deputy St Pier.

‘However, the committee is concerned about the approach taken by the UK when considering the publication of official correspondence between our governments.

‘This issue is not about these particular emails, but rather it is an important point of principle about how we do business – the release of correspondence such as this would set a precedent with potentially severe repercussions for inter-government dialogue.

‘It is also right that we seek to challenge misconceptions about the relationship between the Crown Dependencies and the UK.

‘We are not part of the UK and this matter relates to correspondence about issues which are domestic matters for Guernsey. These are ongoing legal proceedings and it would not be appropriate to comment further.’

The tribunal has said there was nothing controversial in the closed material, and nothing that went beyond the stated public positions of the dependencies.

A joint letter to the Home Office from the Crown Dependencies argues that the tribunal considered the wrong part of the UK’s Freedom of Information Act in making its decision.

The dependencies say they should have been treated as nations and the correspondence as confidential.

Opinion Pages 18 & 19