Communications between Revenue Jersey and HMRC regarding pension flexibility from January 2015

​Request 722586291​

Please provide information on communications between Revenue Jersey and HMRC in the UK regarding the proposed implementation of Pension Flexibility from January 2015, in particular as to whether an Approved Drawdown Contract was a Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme. 

Response

Email searches were run on the account of the Technical Assistant Comptroller and all correspondence in scope was reviewed.

Email Attachment - Redacted.pdf​

Correspondence was withheld in accordance with Article 26 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 as communications with HMRC were undertaken in confidence. In addition, Article 35 - Policy Under Development - of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 – has been applied. 

The remaining email extract was redacted in accordance with Article 25 – Personal Information - 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 2018.

(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.

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 

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 work is being undertaken

• 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, law 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 and legal 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 development

• release of the information at this stage might generate misinformed debate. This would affect the ability of officials to consider and develop policy and law 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.

Therefore, having considered the public interest, the Government of Jersey has concluded that the public interest in disclosing this information is outweighed by the potential prejudice that would likely result.​​​