Ukrainian charity donation (FOI)

Request

The Finance Minister declared that he would be sending £1 million from the government and £1 million publicly raised funds to a Ukrainian charity that will train civilians in bomb disposal. Please provide the following information:

• What is the name of the charity?
• How was the charity chosen?
• Who decided that this was a good use of funds? And how was this decision arrived at?
• What due diligence was undertaken before the charity was chosen, and before funds were transferred?
  
• Who suggested the particular charity in question?
• What checks are in place to verify that the funds have not, nor will be, misappropriated?
  

Response

Please note that the Jersey Overseas Aid Commission (JOAC) is not a scheduled public authority under the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011, and therefore only limited data is available in response to this request. 

It is not the case that Jersey would send £1million from Government and £1million of funds raised by the public to a single organisation that will train civilians in bomb disposal. 

£3,405,175  is the total amount awarded for humanitarian grants in response to the Ukraine crisis in 2022 and 2023 from Jersey Overseas Aid, Jersey Government and the Bailiff's Ukraine Appeal. The funding recipient, detail of each specific grant, the destination (Inside Ukraine or neighbouring countries) can be found in the following link, which is updated on a regular basis. Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

Jersey Overseas Aid Ukraine Response (joa.je)

letter - mid to eia re quarterly hearing - 31 august 2023.pdf (statesassembly.gov.je) 

Information in regard to JOAC’s approach is available in their annual report. Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied. Please see the following link:

Jersey Overseas Aid Annual Report 2022.pdf (joa.je)

The remainder of the request does not constitute information held by the Government of Jersey. You may however wish to contact Jersey Overseas Aid Commission:

Contact details: Enquiries@joa.je

Article applied

Article 23 - Information accessible to applicant by other means

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

(2) 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.