Cannabis Co-ordination Group meeting minutes (FOI)

Request

Please could you provide the minutes for meetings of the Cannabis Co-ordination Group since it's inception.

Response

Minutes of the Cannabis Co-ordination Group, since its inception, are attached below.  Please note that meetings one to four were not minuted, therefore only minutes of the meetings numbered five to 28 have been supplied.

 Cannabis Co-ordination meeting minutes (pdf)

There have been three additional meetings since meeting number 28 (held on 26th July 2021), however, the minutes of these subsequent meetings are still in draft format, not having been approved for finalisation.  It is anticipated that these minutes will be approved and finalised at the first meeting in 2022, which will be held during Quarter 1 2022. 

Redactions have been applied to the minutes where the information is exempt from release in accordance with Article 25 (Personal Information), Article 26 (Information Supplied in Confidence), Article 31 (Advice by the Bailiff, Deputy Bailiff or a Law Officer), Article 33(b) (Commercial Interests), Article 41 (International Relations) and Article 42 (Law Enforcement) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

Articles 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; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.

(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.

Article 26 - Information supplied in confidence

Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it was obtained by the scheduled public authority from another person (including another public authority); and

(b) the disclosure of the information to the public by the scheduled public authority holding it would constitute a breach of confidence actionable by that or any other person.

Article 31 - Advice by the Bailiff, Deputy Bailiff or a Law Officer

Information is exempt if the information requested is or relates to the provision of advice by the Bailiff, Deputy Bailiff, Attorney General or Solicitor General.

Public Interest Test

Article 31 of the Freedom of Information Law recognises the longstanding constitutional Convention that Government does not reveal whether Law Officers have or have not advised on a particular issue, or the content of any such advice. The underlying purpose of this confidentiality is to protect fully informed decision making by allowing government to seek legal advice in private, without fear of any adverse inferences being drawn from either the content of the advice or the fact that it was sought. It ensures that Government is neither discouraged from seeking advice in appropriate cases, nor pressured to seek advice in inappropriate cases.

The request for information about whether or not advice was sought or will be sought falls within the Article 31 exemption.

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 (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 the value of contracts between the Government of Jersey and third parties, we believe the contract values are commercially sensitive as they are the outcome of negotiations between parties and that the release of this data could affect the negotiation of future contracts.

Having considered the public interest, the public authority's decision is to withhold the information.

Article 41 – International Relations

(1) Information is qualified exempt information if its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice relations between Jersey and –

(a) the United Kingdom;

(b) a State other than Jersey;

(2) Information is qualified exempt information if its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice –
(a) any Jersey interests abroad; or

(b) the promotion or protection by Jersey of any such interest.

(3) Information is also qualified exempt information if it is confidential information obtained from –

(a) a State other than Jersey;

Public Interest Test

Having considered the public interest, the public authority's decision is to withhold the information.

Article 42 - Law enforcement

Information is qualified exempt if its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice –

(a) the prevention, detection or investigation of crime, whether in Jersey or elsewhere;

(f) the maintenance of security

Public Interest Test

The public interest in supplying the information is outweighed by the public interest in not doing so.  Whilst we accept that the public have an interest in information contained within these minutes, this interest is outweighed by the public good (the public interest) to preserve the integrity of potential prevention of crime and to ensure security arrangements are not disclosed.  Having considered the public interest, the public authority's decision is to withhold the information.