Amount spent on ventilators (FOI)

​Request

How much has the Government of Jersey spent on ventilators to tackle the Coronavirus and how many have they purchased?

Response

The Government of Jersey has spent less than £50k on procuring two invasive ventilators and five non-invasive ventilators, inclusive of freight costs. The exact amount is deemed commercially sensitive and is exempt under Article 33 (Commercial Interests) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

As Health and Community Services (HCS) are part of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC – UK) national ventilator loan program, a further five invasive ventilators and twenty non-invasive ventilators, have been loaned free of charge to HCS for the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Article applied

Article 33 Commercial interests

Information is qualified exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes a trade secret; or

(b) its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information).

Prejudice / public interest test

Article 33 (b) allows an authority to refuse a request for information where its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information). Whilst we accept that the public may have an interest in the value of Government of Jersey contracts we believe the exact contract values are commercially sensitive and that the release of this data could affect the negotiation of future contract values.