Breakdown of expenditure of offshore wind farms

Request 747447540 

Thank you for providing the information regarding my request735623139. In the light of that information provided could I request a detailed breakdown of how that money was spent and who received it with details of who the consultants were, how much each one was paid, who authorised their employment and what were their technical qualifications in the operation of offshore wind farms and what was their practical experience in the operation of offshore windfarms and we request copies of any written reports submitted by these consultants and any minutes of any meetings any consultants engaged by the department fr this work had with officers or the Minister as part of their work. Also whether the amount given of £941,541 includes officer time spent on the project and law drafting time. 

Response 

All expenditure (and authorisation thereof) has followed Government of Jersey procurement guidelines and the requirements of the Public Finances Manual. Advisory and consultancy services were commissioned using technical work scopes and services packages in line with procurement guidelines. These were developed internally to align with the tasks required at the appropriate stage of the project.  

Records of meetings and reports commissioned as part of the Offshore Wind Project are part of the policy development process, therefore Article 35 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.  

Reports will be published by the end of 2025 alongside Ministers’ final proposals, so Article 36 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law applies. In advance of this, where practicable reports are and will be made available on gov.je/offshorewind. 

Details of expenditure relating to the work on the Offshore Wind Project are expected o be released as part of a 6 monthly consultancy Report to the States Assembly. Therefore Article 36 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied to this information. 

Articles applied: 

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. 

Public interest considerations favouring withholding the information: 

In order to best develop policy, officials and ministers 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 Scheduled Public Authority (SPA) requires the possible impact of any proposed documents to be reviewed, and for Ministers and officials to be able to discuss and test those proposed policies in a comprehensive way. 

The SPA has concluded that, on balance, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the benefits disclosing the information. 

Article 36 - Information intended for future publication 

(1) Information is qualified exempt information if, at the time when the request for the information is made, the information is being held by a public authority with a view to its being published within 12 weeks of the date of the request. 

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant – 

(a) of the date when the information will be published; 

(b) of the manner in which it will be published; and 

(c) by whom it will be published. 

(3) In this Article, “published” means published – 

(a) by a public authority; or 

(b) by any other person. 

Public Interest Test 

Article 36 is a qualified exemption, which means that a public interest test has to be undertaken to examine the circumstances of the case and decide whether, on balance, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. 

Public interest considerations favouring disclosure: 

Disclosure of the information would support transparency and promote accountability to the general public.

Public interest considerations favouring withholding the information: It is intended to publish a report containing this information on www.gov.je within 12 weeks of the receipt of this request. In it is reasonable for government to publish reports in an orderly manner, following completion of appropriate internal processes, and publishing in advance, and in such close proximity to the expected publication date, would potentially undermine the orderly publication and conduct of government work (when the public benefit of earlier publication under the Law would derive limited benefit).