Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change (FOI)

Request

Would you please provide the names and qualifications of all the members of the citizens panel regarding Carbon Neutrality please

Response

The Government of Jersey does not hold the information requested. Article 10(1) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 therefore applies.

The Government of Jersey commissioned an independent consortium to deliver the Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change on behalf of the States Assembly. The mandate of the citizens’ assembly tasked the assembly to make recommendations to both the States Assembly and the Government of Jersey, therefore it was necessary for this to be an independently run process. The Government of Jersey was never the data controller of any details of the assembly members as all recruitment and selection of participants was done by the consortium. This was an important part of ensuring the independence of the participants from the government. For the same reason the consortium co-ordinated all communication with participants.

Selection of members was random and carried out by the Sortition Foundation, a member of the consortium. 9,000 households were randomly sent an invitation to be on the Citizens’ Assembly. Anyone aged 16 or over, who lived at the address who was eligible to vote could apply to take part. They did not have to have any qualification or skills linked to climate change.

Sortition Foundation

A citizens’ assembly brings together a representative cross-section of the public to discuss the action which should be taken to respond to a problem. Involving a diverse group of citizens in the discussion means that a broad range of voices is heard and helps ensure that minority views are not overlooked. Citizens can bring additional perspectives and knowledge to a debate and may be less influenced by political agendas, being open to different sides of an argument.

Eligibility to register to be part of the Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change:

Individuals could register their interest to be part of the citizens’ assembly if they:

• lived in a household that received an invitation

• are aged 16 or over and have lived in Jersey for either:

• The last two years, or

• The last six months plus any other period(s) which total five years

From those who chose to register, there was a further stratified random selection process to come up with the final group of 45 people.

The stratifying criteria

• age

• country of birth

• gender

• geography

• socio-economic: Tenure

• climate change attitude

A maximum of one person from any single household could be selected. Members of the States Assembly and Senior Managers of the Government of Jersey and Non-Ministerial Departments could not apply to join the citizens’ assembly, though members of their household could.

The breakdown of the selected 45 participants in terms of how they met the stratifying criteria in comparison with the wider population can be found in the following link:

Achieving Carbon Neutrality – Report of Jersey’s Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change

Article applied

Article 10 Obligation of scheduled public authority to confirm or deny holding information

(1) Subject to paragraph (2), if –

(a) a person makes a request for information to a scheduled public authority; and

(b) the authority does not hold the information,

it must inform the applicant accordingly.