Howard Davis Hall usage and rental income (FOI)

​​Request

Please confirm the rental income to date, and the number of events held in Howard David Hall since it was closed to the public.

Response

Releasing the rental income would likely prejudice the commercial interests of the company, therefore Article 33(b) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

Information regarding the number of events held in the hall is not held by the Government of Jersey, therefore Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

Howard Davis Hall has not been closed to the public and holds public events. 

Articles applied

Article 3 – Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purpose of this Law, information is held by a public authority if – 

(a) it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b) it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.

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).

Public Interest Test

Since Article 33 is a qualified, not an absolute, exemption, a public interest test has been conducted as required by Article 9(2) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 to assess whether, in all circumstances of the case, the public interest in supplying the information is outweighed by the public interest in not doing so. Information disclosed is considered to be public information, and while there is a presumption towards disclosure, consideration needs to be given as to who will have access to this information beyond the requester and the purpose for which they could use the information. 

The Government of Jersey has assessed the impact of releasing specific information regarding rental income, in order to decide whether disclosure would, or would likely, prejudice their commercial interests or those of any third party(ies). This information, if released, would likely prejudice their commercial interests, including future lease negotiations.​