Hospital Policy Review Board correspondence (FOI)

Request

I would request copies of any electronic information and communications passed by [names redacted] to Assistant Chief Minister Chris Taylor concerning a ‘French’ hospital project proposed as forming an alternative future hospital project (for Jersey) to those already discussed.

Also copies of any hard copy information passed by [name redacted] to Assistant Chief Minister Chris Taylor on the same subject.

The date range will be concurrent to the Hospital Policy Review Board (HPRB) commencement to the date you run the search

Response

A search of email has been completed. Relevant email and attachments are contained in the PDFs below:

Redacted emails

BDP French Hospital (ref email 1)

Fourteen reasons why the new hospital plan will not work (red email 2)

Ignored Advice During Site Selection (ref email 2)

French Hospital Information (ref email 3)

Redacted Letter to the Editor - November 2018 (ref email 9)

Liste de References Hospitalieres 2014-2018 - AIA Life Designers (ref email 10)

The emails attached have been redacted in accordance with the following articles of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 (the Law).

Article 25 Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.

Article 35 Formulation and development of policies

Information is qualified exempt information if it relates to the formulation or development of any proposed policy by a public authority.

The Scheduled Public Authority (SPA) is withholding the release of certain parts of the information as it relates to the formulation and development of policy by the public authority.

Article 35 is a qualified exemption, which means that a public interest test is required to be undertaken by the SPA. It is therefore necessary for the scheduled public authority to examine the circumstances of the case. Following assessment the SPA has to decide whether, on balance, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

The information redacted under this article relates to an ongoing situation. The SPA requires Ministers to be provided with full, frank advice from officials and third parties about the possible impact of proposed policy.

It was considered that premature disclosure of this information may limit the willingness of parties to provide their honest views and feedback, which would in turn hamper and harm the policy making process.

Taking into account the various factors, the SPA has applied redactions where necessary to maintain this exemption.

It should also be noted that once a policy is formulated and published, the public interest in withholding information relating to its formulation is diminished, however, the use of the exemption can be supported if it preserves sufficient freedom during the policy formulation phase to explore options without that process being hampered by some expectation of future publication.