Jersey subsidy to Condor Ferries (FOI)

​​Request

Under the previous Condor Ferry contract there was a payment of circ £600k a month between Guernsey & Jersey as part of a contingency plan should the Condor Ferries be unable to sail, and the islands faced an issue of lack of critical supplies. 

A) Why under the new DFDS ferry contract is Jersey continuing to pay their share of this contingency when DFDS have expressly indicated that they can step in and provide contingency ferries for Jersey should the need arise? There is therefore no reason whatsoever for Jersey taxpayers to be incurring this totally unnecessary cost. 

B) Is Jersey in effect subsidising Guernsey tax payer if Jersey is still continuing to pay post the Jersey Condor Ferries contract ending at the end of March 2025? 

C) Please provide the minutes of the Scrutiny meeting that discussed the agreement to continue making these payments.

D) If the minutes are not available please provide the dates, times, locations and a complete list of attendees for the meeting that agreed to continue these payments. 

E) What Ministerial agreement has occurred for this decision?

Response

A) The contract between Government of Jersey and DFDS was signed on 31st December 2024 and services commence on 28th March 2025. 

A separate contingency arrangement commissioned jointly by the Government of Jersey and the States of Guernsey has been in place since early 2024 to provide reduced services on a step-in basis should the incumbent fail to deliver upon its contractual obligations. 

B) In the absence of evidence to reassure Government of Jersey that the risk of contractual non-performance had diminished, the decision was taken to further extend the contingency arrangement until 28th March 2025. We cannot speak for the States of Guernsey decision not to do likewise. 

C) Scrutiny is not involved in approving Government payments or contractual arrangements.  The requested information is therefore not held and Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

D) As for response to C above. Therefore, Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

E) The decision was made by the Minister for Sustainable Economic Development following consultation with the Council of Ministers and approval of additional funding by the Minister for Treasury & Resources.

Article Applied

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

For the purposes 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.​​