Communications regarding the financial position of Jersey Recovery College

​​​Request ​739066393

I request access to the following information: 

a) All internal communications, meeting minutes, memos, or notes held by Health and Care Jersey, from 1 January 2024 to 31 August 2024, concerning the financial position, viability, or liquidation risk of Jersey Recovery College. 

b) Any correspondence between Health and Care Jersey and Jersey Recovery College or other third parties regarding the financial condition or funding arrangements during the same period

Response

Keyword searches of the Government of Jersey’s mail system were performed for the period requested. A significant volume of correspondence was returned. Whilst every effort has been made to complete a review of all emails, this work has now reached the threshold for the timescales prescribed in the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014. Therefore, Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied and no further review can be conducted.

Information found to be in scope of this request from the reviews completed has been prepared for disclosure. Duplicates, and emails or attachments that are entirely exempt have been removed, and correspondence has been redacted in consideration of Freedom of Information legislation.

Redactions have been colour coded for ease of reference, as follows:

Yellow Personal Information of individuals, including Government of Jersey employees below Tier 2 – Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011

Blue Information supplied in confidence – Article 26 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011

Green Commercial Interests – Article 33 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011

[LINK Correspondence Pack]​

Service review meeting minutes for the period which are not included in the correspondence pack are attached below, as is the 2024 action plan. Redactions have been made to these documents, as required, as described above.

[LINK 07052024 JRC Service Review Minutes]

[LINK 05082024 JRC Minutes]

[LINK Recovery college 2024 action plan]​

Articles applied

Article 16 - A scheduled public authority may refuse to supply information if cost

excessive

(1) A scheduled public authority that has been requested to supply information may refuse to supply the information if it estimates that the cost of doing so would exceed an amount determined in the manner prescribed by Regulations.

(2) Despite paragraph (1), a scheduled public authority may still supply the information requested on payment to it of a fee determined by the authority in the manner prescribed by Regulations for the purposes of this Article.

(3) Regulations may provide that, in such circumstances as the Regulations prescribe, if two or more requests for information are made to a scheduled public authority –

(a) by one person; or

(b) by different persons who appear to the scheduled public authority to be acting in concert or in pursuance of a campaign, the estimated cost of complying with any of the requests is to be taken to be the estimated total cost of complying with all of them.

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 2005; 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 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 is a qualified exemption and, as such, Health and Care Jersey (HCJ) has conducted a public interest test as required by law.

When responding to requests of this nature, HCJ has to balance the public interest with the impact that disclosing this information would, or would be likely to, have upon the organisation and / or third parties. Whilst it may be in the public interest to understand the commissioning of services, protecting commercially sensitive information is often necessary to ensure fairness and prevent harm to suppliers and / or the Government.

HCJ has assessed whether, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in supplying the information is outweighed by the prejudice that would likely result by doing so.

It is recognised that there is a public interest in transparency, particularly regarding Government contracts. However, having considered the public interest, HCJ has concluded that the public interest in disclosing certain financial information and third-party specific data is outweighed by the potential prejudice that would likely result​.​