Fuel duty receipts in 2026 compared to other years

​​​​​Request ​832772879

1.

Fuel duty receipts for January, February and March 2026 compared to the same months in 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021

2.

as well as any emails sent by the Treasury Minister since 28 February 2026 that reference fuel duty.

Response

​1.

2.

The requested correspondence is exempt from disclosure under Article 35 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

Article 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

The following considerations were considered:

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, Ministers need a safe space in which free and frank discussion can take place.
• ​The need for this safe space is considered at its greatest during the live stages of a policy. however, it should be considered that preliminary assumptions, draft formulations, and correspondence may not reflect the authority’s final or current position. Disclosure may mislead the public or create unnecessary concern based on raw or untested material.
• Release of the information might generate misinformed debate in. This would affect the ability of Ministers to consider and develop policy away from external pressures.
• 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.

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

It should also be noted that 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 be supported if it preserves sufficient freedom during policy formulation phase to explore options without that process being hampered by some expectation of future publication.

The SPA has concluded that, on balance, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the benefits disclosing the information, and that disclosure would likely prejudice the safe space needed for policy refinement, review, or future related policy-making, as well as risking confusion regarding the authority’s settled position.​