AirSensa monitors installed at schools (FOI)

Request

A

Please provide access to all correspondence between AirSensa, Environmental Health and Digital Jersey between 1 January 2019 and 15 December 2020 for any and all correspondence in relation to the sensors installed at the schools in the island.

B

Please provide grid references for each and every AirSensa monitor installed at every location in the island

C

Please provide a list of each and every school that has an AirSensa monitor installed within the island

D

Please provide a deadline that has been agreed for when the AirSensa data will be issued publicly on the www.gov.je website as confirmed in 2019 by the States Assembly.

E

The delays to the distribution of data have been excessive and unnecessary. Please explain why this data has yet to be made available.

Response

A to C

We have conducted a search of our email back up system (Cryoserver) which holds copies of all emails sent and received by Government staff.

We used the search term, ‘AirSensa’ and included all email addresses ending in ‘@airsensa.com’ and ‘@digital.je’.  We also checked the email accounts for all Government of Jersey (GOJ) staff involved in this project.

Due to the volume of correspondence it is not practical to send it via email and consequently copies of the relevant correspondence are now available for the applicant to view through a private Egress account, which is a secure document sharing platform.

Instructions on how to access the private Egress account have been forwarded direct to the applicant.

D

A specific deadline for the release of the air monitoring data has not been set since there are a number of steps that need to be completed before this information can be made available to the public.

We need to ensure that all installed units are producing reliable data, and this will not be achieved until the data ratification, quality assurance and calibration phase of this project has been completed.

E

AirSensa own the equipment and are in control of completing the following processes to enable the provision of reliable data.

• further extension of the network (this is subject to site permissions and installation)

• correlation audits with a UK academic institute to assure data accuracy

• provision of a data portal.  We have been advised that this will include an initial single screen output suitable for use in schools

• compare the data from the AirSensa units to an established air quality recorder in the Central Market

Only when all parties are satisfied with the quality of data can contractual terms be agreed to allow GOJ access and subsequent public release.

The project has also suffered the following delays:

• the majority of Environmental Health staff were re-assigned from their usual roles to establish Contact Tracing in Jersey

• UK based AirSensa engineers and technicians have been unable to visit Jersey as a result of enforced travel restrictions imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic

• the Digital Jersey team involved with this project were temporarily seconded to assist GOJ with Covid-19 related tasks

Personal information has been redacted in accordance with the Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 (the Law).

Article(s) applied

Article 25 Personal information

(1)     Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005.
(2)     Information is absolutely exempt information if –
(a)     it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018[7]; and
(b)     its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.[8]
(3)     In determining for the purposes of this Article whether the lawfulness principle in Article 8(1)(a) of the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018 would be contravened by the disclosure of information, paragraph 5(1) of Schedule 2 to that Law (legitimate interests) is to be read as if sub-paragraph (b) (which disapplies the provision where the controller is a public authority) were omitted.

An additional eight documents have been withheld in accordance with Article 35 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011

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.

The Scheduled Public Authority (SPA) is withholding the release of certain parts of the information as it relates to the formulation and development of policy and procedure by the public authority.

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 procedural 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, 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 and procedural development as iterations of documents are demonstrative of the development process

• the need for this safe space is considered at its greatest during the live stages of a project

• disclosure of this information may limit the willingness of parties to provide their honest views and feedback. This would hamper and harm the policy and procedure making process not only in relation to this subject area but in respect of future project development across wider Departmental business

Taking into account these various factors, we have decided to maintain this exemption.