Action for Clean Water Group (ACWG)

​Request 719679290

Dear FOI Officer,

I am writing under the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 to request information about the Action for Clean Water Group (ACWG), which has been described as a joint initiative between Jersey Water and the Government of Jersey.

Please provide information in response to the following:

A. Formation and Legal Basis

1. On what date was the Action for Clean Water Group (ACWG) formally established?

2. Is the ACWG governed by a constitution, terms of reference, or memorandum of understanding? Please provide a copy.

3. Under which department or legal mechanism was the group created?

B. Membership and Appointments

4. Who are the current members of the group? Please include names, job titles, and organisational affiliations.

5. How are members appointed and by whom?

6. Has the group ever included independent scientific advisors, and if so, who?

C. Meetings and Minutes

7. How often has the group met each year since formation?

8. Please list the dates of all meetings to date.

9. Are meeting minutes kept? If so, please provide copies of all minutes held.

10. Has the group produced any formal outputs, reports, or recommendations? If so, please supply these.

D. Oversight and Communications

11. Who does the ACWG report to within the Government of Jersey?

12. Does it have a public website, newsletter, or public-facing communications plan?

13. Has the group made any statements or publications accessible to the public?

E. Staffing and Resources

14. How many civil servants or public officers are assigned to support the group?

15. What are their job titles and departmental affiliations?

16. What departmental or external resources (e.g. meeting rooms, technical staff, communications support) are used by the group?

F. Budget and Expenditure

17. What is the ACWG’s annual budget for each year since its formation?

18. Please provide a breakdown of expenditures by year, including salaries, administration, consultancy, and meeting expenses.

19. Has Jersey Water provided funding, staff, or other in-kind support to the ACWG? If so, please detail. 

Thank you for your attention to this request. 

Kind regards 

Response

1

The Action for Clean Water Group (ACWG) was formally established on 01 July 2016.

2

A copy of the Terms of reference is attached 
20250701_FOI_719679290_Terms of Reference.pdf

3

The group was created under the Infrastructure and Environment Department.

4 and 5

The members of the group can be found in the Terms of Reference attached.

6

The group has never included independent scientific advisors.

7

The group have met Approximately 4 times per year (please note the break during COVID) 

8

The dates of each meeting are shown below: 

9 and 10

Yes, minutes are kept, however, the discussions held are provided in confidence, therefore, Article 26 (a) and (b) (Information given in confidence) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies. 

Consequently, the release of the information at this stage would likely generate misinformed debate. This could affect the ability of officials to consider and develop policy away from external pressures, and to advise Ministers appropriately, therefore, Article 35 (Formulation and Development of Policies) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has also been applied to the release of the minutes and formal outputs, reports, or recommendations relating to the ACWG’s meetings.

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

11

The Chair is the Head of Land Resource Management, Department for Infrastructure and Environment.

12

There is no public website, newsletter, or public-facing communications plan.

13

Yes, there have been various media releases made by the group.

14 and 15

One, only the Chair is assigned by the Scheduled Public Authority (SPA) to support the group.

16

Meetings are held in venues of the organisation, one per year is held at Natural Environment – Howard Davis Farm.

17 and 18

There is no annual budget for the Action for Clean Water Group.

19

Jersey Water have provided Officer support and a promotional video for the Action for Clean Water Group.

Articles applied 

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 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

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 group has developed over the years, whereby stakeholders, particularly the industry, come together to discuss the challenges and solutions faced. For it to be effective it has needed to build up absolute confidentiality and trust between stakeholders. 

• Premature disclosure of this information may limit the willingness of parties to provide their honest views and feedback. 

• Release of the information at this stage might generate misinformed debate. This would affect the ability of officials to consider and develop policy away from external pressures, and to advise Ministers appropriately.

Considering all considerations above, while transparency and accountability is important, the public interest in disclosure must be weighed against potential harm caused by breach of confidence and or misinformation.  

The SPA has concluded that, on balance, the risk of causing harm caused by prejudice of breach of confidence and or spreading misinformation, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the benefits disclosing the information.​