Number of Oral & Written Submissions

16 November 2009

Please provide the number of written and oral questions submitted by Assembly Members since the restoration of devolved government in 2007, providing a list with the total number for each member. For example:

Gerry Adams - 100
Martina Anderson - 101
Billy Armstrong - 102 etc

Please state the cost incurred in answering each MLAs’ questions total.
To bring my request in line with time limits, I am prepared to accept an estimate.
This may comprise taking the average cost of each question (reported this week to be £300) and multiplied by the number of questions each MLA has asked.

Response

The table attached sets out the number of oral and written Assembly Questions tabled by MLAs since devolution in May 2007. As the responses are prepared by the Departments to which they are addressed the Northern Ireland Assembly does not hold figures relating to the cost of providing answers. However some information on costs is available in a report produced by the Assembly’s Committee on Procedures on its Inquiry into Assembly Questions. This is available on the website.

You may wish note that not all Members table questions and neither Ministers nor the Speaker of the Assembly submit questions.