Gymnastics facility at Oakfield Community Sports Centre (FOI)

Request 694883900

​I am writing to formally request information under the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 regarding the new Gymnastics facility being constructed at Oakfield Community Sports Centre.

Specifically, I would like to obtain clarification on the following matters:

1

Access and use of the Facility - who will be permitted to use and hire the new Gymnastics facility at Oakfield Community Sports Centre?

2

How will the availability and booking slots for this facility be allocated? Please provide details on the allocation process, including any criteria that will be used.

3

Eligibility for Hiring- is the facility available for hire by any gymnastics clubs or organizations?

4

Will there be restrictions or prioritization of particular clubs, associations, charities, or not-for-profit organizations when it comes to hiring the facility? 

5

How much bigger is the new gymnastics space at Oakfield versus the space hired out at Fort Regent?

6

Charges for Hire - Will there be a standard hire rate for all users, or will the rates differ depending on the type of user (e.g., private businesses, schools, charities, etc.)? If the rates differ, please provide the breakdown of the hire rates applicable to different categories of users.

7

Ownership of Equipment - who will own the equipment within the Gymnastics facility, and who will be responsible for its maintenance and replacement, daily checks, cleaning etc? 

8

Who is supplying the equipment and what standard is it? How much equipment is the new gymnastics space at Oakfield versus the space hired out at Fort Regent?

9

Will external clubs or organizations that hire the facility be responsible for providing their own equipment, or will the government-provided equipment be available for use by all hirers?

10

Charges for Businesses - If a business (such as Regent Gymnastics or Little Monkeys) wishes to hire the Gymnastics facility, what rates will apply? Please provide details of any applicable rates, including any differences between private businesses and other organisations.

11

Use by schools - will schools be able to access the Gymnastics facility during curriculum time? If so, what process will be in place for schools to book and use the facility, and will any charges apply?

12

I would appreciate it if you could provide a full response to the above queries at your earliest convenience. Please include any relevant documents, policies, or procedures that detail the allocation and hiring process for this facility.

Response

1

Gymnastics clubs transferring from Fort Regent, schools and colleges and any other bone fide gymnastics club will be permitted to use and hire the new gymnastics facility at Oakfield.  

2

First priority for booking slots will go to the gymnastics clubs transferring from Fort Regent to match their current hire periods, second priority will go to schools and colleges and third priority will go to any other private gymnastics club.

3

The new facility is only eligible for hire for gymnastics clubs that have the required statutory and mandatory provisions in place for operating a gymnastics club. The facility will not be available to non-gymnastic clubs.

​4

Please see the response to questions 2 and 3.

5

The gymnastics space at Fort Regent was 1280m2 and the area of the new facility at Oakfield is circa 590m2.

6 and 10

The pricing strategy has not yet been finalised, therefore, the requested information is exempt under Article 35 (Formulation and development of policies) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 as this project currently remains policy under development.

Article 35 is a qualified exemption; therefore, a public interest test has been applied and is shown at the end of this response.

7

All of the equipment in the new gymnastic facility will be purchased, owned, installed, maintained and cleaned by the Sports division of the Government of Jersey. 

8

The Sport Division is providing all the equipment in the new gymnastic facility at Oakfield. The equipment will be of the highest quality.  

The designs for Oakfield are still to be finalised, therefore, the requested information is exempt under Article 35 (Formulation and development of policies) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 as this project currently remains policy under development.

9

The equipment owned by the Government of Jersey will be available for all users.

11

The schools and colleges will be able to book and hire the gymnastic facility during curriculum time subject to booking availability.   Standard booking arrangements will apply subject to booking priorities outlined in the response to question 2.  

There will be a usage charge for fee paying schools, however, non-fee-paying schools will be able to use the facilities for free.

12

The requested documents are exempt under Article 35 (Formulation and development of policies) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 as this project currently remains policy under development.

Article applied

Article 35 - Formulation and development of policies

Information is qualified exempt information if it relates to the formulation or development of any proposed policy by a public authority.

Public Interest Test

Article 35 is a qualified exemption and, as such, the Government of Jersey has conducted a prejudice test as required by law.

The Government of Jersey has made an assessment on whether in all of the circumstances the public interest in disclosing the information would be outweighed by the prejudice that would be likely if it were disclosed.

Once a policy is formulated and published, the public interest in withholding information relating to its formulation is diminished. However, the use of the exemption can continue to be supported if it preserves sufficient freedom during the policy formulation phase to explore options without that process being hampered by some expectation of future publication.

In applying this article, the following considerations were taken into account. 

Public interest considerations favouring disclosure: 

• Disclosure of the information would support transparency and promote accountability to the general public, providing confirmation that the necessary discussions have taken place.
• Disclosure to the public fulfils an educative role about the early stages in policy development and illustrates how the department engages with parties for this purpose.  

Public interest considerations favouring withholding the information: 

• In order to best develop policy and provide advice to Ministers, officials need a safe space in which free and frank discussion can take place – discussion of how documentation is presented and provided is considered as integral to policy development as iterations of documents are demonstrative of the policy development process. 
• The need for this safe space is considered at its greatest during the live stages of a policy. 
• Release of the information at this stage might generate misinformed debate in. This would affect the ability of officials to consider and develop policy away from external pressures, and to advise Ministers appropriately. 
• Premature disclosure of this information may limit the willingness of parties to provide their honest views and feedback. This would hamper and harm the policy–making process not only in relation to this subject area but in respect of future policy development across wider departmental business.

Following assessment, the Government of Jersey has concluded that, on balance, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. 

It should also be noted that once a policy is formulated and published, the public interest in withholding information relating to its formulation is diminished, however, the use of the exemption can be supported if it preserves sufficient freedom during the policy formulation phase to explore options without that process being hampered by some expectation of future publication. ​