Rental costs for new Union Street Government building (FOI)

​Request 688445377

A. 

How much is the Government of Jersey paying per annum for the lease of the new OneGov building (Ex. Cyril Le Marquand)?

B. 

How many years / months is the Government of Jersey intending to lease the OneGov building for?

C. 

What price has been agreed for the purchase of OneGov building from Dandara?

Response

A

The information you have requested regarding the lease for Union Street Office (formerly Cyril le Marquand House) is exempt under Article 33(b) (Commercial Interests) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 as the information is commercially sensitive.

Article 33 is a qualified exemption; therefore, a public interest test has been applied and is shown at the end of this response.

B and C

The information requested is partially exempt under Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 as the information is accessible within the Budget Government Plan 2025-2028​

The information can be located on pages 3, 9 and 89

It should be noted that the referenced is an estimated cost figure for 2025.

Articles 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.

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

​Article 33 is a qualified exemption and a public interest test should be carried out by the Scheduled Public Authority (SPA) to determine whether the information should be released.

It is in the public interest to be made aware of the annual lease figure paid by the SPA (the Government of Jersey) in relation to the Union Street Office.   

However, the release of the annual lease paid could potentially disadvantage the tenant and the Government of Jersey’s ability to retain commercial advantage in any future rental negotiations regarding this site.  

Therefore, it is considered that the likely prejudice to the tenant and to the Government of Jersey, should this information be released, outweighs the argument that the release is in the public interest.​