School catering contract renewal (FOI)

Request

In late 2019, Capsicum Catering gave notice of 30 days on their contract to deliver school lunches to secondary schools in the Island, including Les Quennevais, Victoria College and De La Salle.

Please can you advise under what terms Capsicum Catering then agreed, and were approved, to stay on and deliver school meals until July 2020, including any financial incentives, agreements, rent reductions and so on.

Response

It is not possible to provide this information as it is commercially confidential between the Government of Jersey and the supplier, therefore Article 33 (Commercial Interests) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

Article applied

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).

Prejudice / public interest test

Article 33 (b) allows an authority to refuse a request for information where its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information). Whilst we accept that the public may have an interest in this information between the Government of Jersey and the supplier, we believe the information is commercially sensitive and that the release of this information could affect the negotiation of future contracts and the relationship with suppliers in the future.