Broad Street business case (FOI)

​Request

Please can I receive the first email sent with the published business case for the recent office move to Broad Street?

The published business case must have been sent and approved prior to the move taking place.

Please can all signed and dated exemptions from Financial Directions also be published online?

For clarity I would like to know:

A

When the final version of the business case was first submitted. If it makes it easier please provide all emails containing or referring to the final business case in the three months leading up to the move to Broad Street to / from the Commercial Director (Ms Benbow).

B

The details as to how the Business Case was approved.

Response

A

The final business case was submitted for review in December 2018.

B

The business case was approved in line with the Government’s Contingency Policy.

This Policy states that the Investment Appraisal Board is required to review business cases before making a recommendation for funding to the Treasurer. The Treasurer can make a recommendation to the Treasury and Resources (T&R) Minister to approve funding. Only the T&R Minister is permitted to approve funding.

Exemptions from Financial Directions contain information that is of a commercially sensitive nature and are therefore exempt from publication under Article 33 (Commercial Interests) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

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 contracts between the Government of Jersey and third parties, we believe the contract values are commercially sensitive as they are the outcome of negotiations between parties and that the release of this data could affect the negotiation of future contracts and the relationship with our suppliers. In this instance it is also considered that the names of suppliers and related tendering process is sensitive as its disclosure could be commercially prejudicial.