Government of Jersey’s office estate

​​​Request 760063300

I am requesting the following information under the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 in relation to the Government of Jersey's office estate (including owned and leased buildings used for administrative or departmental purposes):

1

A list of all buildings currently owned or leased by the Government of Jersey for office use, including:
  a. The address of each property
  b. Whether it is owned or leased (and if leased, the annual rental cost and expiry date)
  c. The department(s) or public bodies occupying each property

2

The total floor area (m²) and number of workstations or desks provided in each building.

3

The current occupancy rate for each building (i.e. proportion of desks/workstations regularly in use, averaged over 2024–25).

4

Any internal reviews, assessments, or reports carried out since 2022 regarding office utilisation or rationalisation of the government estate.

5

The total annual cost of maintaining, renting, or operating these buildings (including service charges, utilities, and maintenance) for each of the last three financial years.
If any of this information is already publicly available, please direct me to the relevant source. 

Response 

1a and 1b

The requested information is provided in the attached document, however, the requested information regarding the annual rental cost and expiry dates is exempt under Article 33(b) (Commercial Interests) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 as they are considered commercially sensitive. 

Freedom of Information response 760063300 - Attachment.pdf​

Article 33 is a qualified exemption; therefore, a public interest test has been applied and is shown at the end of this response.

1c
The requested information regarding which departments occupy each office is exempt under Article 42 (a) (Law Enforcement) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

Article 42 is a qualified exemption, therefore, a public interest test has been applied and is shown at the end of this response.
2, 3, 4 and 5

The requested information is not held in recorded form that could be exported, and to respond to this request would require extraction and manipulation of data to produce new information.  A Scheduled Public Authority is not required to manipulate and create new data sets, Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 therefore applies.   

Articles applied

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 

In applying this article, the following considerations were taken into account.   

Public interest considerations favouring disclosure    

• Disclosure of the information would ensure the general public to be made aware of the annual office rental fees and the lease expiry dates in relation to the referenced sites.  
  
  

• Disclosure of the information would support transparency and promote accountability to the general public and would also promote trust in the Schedules Public Authority (SPA) by showing openness. 

Public interest considerations favouring withholding the information     

• The disclosure of the annual office rental fees could potentially disadvantage the tenants and the SPA's ability to retain commercial advantage in any future rental notifications. 

• This could also result in the SPA's inability to secure best value for the taxpayer and this will likely prejudice the SPA as its bargaining power decreases.
  
  
• The disclosure of the annual office rental fees could jeopardise the business relationship between the SPA and the tenant. 

Considering all the considerations the above, while transparency and accountability is important the public interest in disclosure must be weighed against potential harm caused by prejudice of the commercial interests. 

On balance, the SPA has concluded that the risk of causing harm by prejudice of the commercial interests the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the benefits disclosing the information. 

Article 42 - Law enforcement 

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

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

Public Interest test
The following considerations were considered 

Public interest considerations favouring disclosure

• Disclosure of the information would support transparency and promote accountability to the general public regarding the utilisation of the properties in the Government of Jersey's (SPA) property portfolio managed by Jersey Property Holdings.
  

Public interest considerations favouring withholding the information 

• Disclosure of the office usage information could be exploited by malicious actors to compromise the safety of Government of Jersey staff, thereby increasing the risk of harm to staff and the public. 

• Criminal activity at Government of Jersey offices increases risks to neighbouring properties, residents, and emergency services. Disclosure that elevates these risks cannot be justified 

• Increased crime would result in higher public expenditure on repairs, investigations, and emergency response, which is not in the public interest.
  

Considering all considerations above, while transparency is important, the public interest in disclosure must be weighed against potential harm caused by the release of the details of vacant properties, units and sites. 

The SPA has concluded that, on balance, the risk to prejudice the safety of government staff and properties by increasing the risk of malicious acts, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the benefits disclosing the information.   

Article 3 - Meaning of “information held by a public authority"

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a)     it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b)     it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.​​