Cost of COVID-19 Pandemic (FOI)

Request

Following the Covid Order of March 2020; how much public money has the covid narrative cost the last two years balance sheet? costs such as related actions, vaccine purchases, PPE products, nightingale hospitals, PCR tests, and STAFFING cost?

Response

Information in respect of 2020 costs is publicly available on www.gov.je in response to a previous Freedom of Information request and the Annual Report and Accounts, pages 147-148 Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

Cost of Covid-19 pandemic (FOI)

States of Jersey Annual Report and Accounts 2020

Information is respect of 2021 costs will be published in the Annual Report and Accounts for 2021 in the Financial Review section of the Performance Report, on www.gov.je at the beginning of April 2022.  Article 36 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

Articles applied

Article 23 - Information accessible to applicant by other means

Information is absolutely exempt information if it is reasonably available to the applicant, otherwise than under this Law, whether or not free of charge.

A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant where the applicant may obtain the information.

Article 36 - Information intended for future publication

(1)        Information is qualified exempt information if, at the time when the request for the information is made, the information is being held by a public authority with a view to its being published within 12 weeks of the date of the request.

(2)        A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant –

(a)        of the date when the information will be published;

(b)        of the manner in which it will be published; and

(c)        by whom it will be published.

(3)        In this Article, "published" means published –

(a)        by a public authority; or

(b)        by any other person.

Public Interest Test

Article 36 is a qualified exemption, which means that a public interest test has to be undertaken to examine the circumstances of the case and decide whether, on balance, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Public interest considerations favouring disclosure

• disclosure of the information would support transparency and promote accountability to the general public.

Public interest considerations favouring withholding the information

• It is intended to publish the Annual Report and Accounts within 12 weeks of the receipt of this request on www.gov.je.  Publishing the draft document in such close proximity to the final version would potentially lead to confusion.