Expenses claimed by Members within the Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency

Information Standards Freedom of Information Response

Our Ref: FoI 03-20

05 February 2020

Freedom of Information Act 2000

I can confirm that the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission holds information relevant to your request of 2 January 2020.  In your request you asked for the following information:

“Can I request the following under the Freedom of Information Act.

- Expenses paid out to each MLA from Fermanagh and South Tyrone since the last Assembly election.

- Expenses refused to each MLA from Fermanagh and South Tyrone since the last Assembly election and why they were refused.

- Colm Gildernew MLA was co opted just after the election, can I ask for Michelle Gildernew's expenses in the same period as well as any refused expenses.

- If possible, can the expenses be itemised?”

Please see the information attached at Appendix A in relation to the above request.

 

If you feel that the information we have provided does not meet your request fully, please contact this office as soon as possible.  You have the right to request a formal review by the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission and if you wish to do so, please write to me at the above address. 

If after such an internal review you are still unhappy with the response, you have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,  Cheshire SK9 5AF who will undertake an independent review.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me.  Please remember to quote the reference number above.

Yours sincerely

INFORMATION STANDARDS

 

Appendix A

All expenses and allowances paid to Members are published on the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission website.

This includes expenses paid to Michelle Gildernew during her winding up period following her resignation from the Assembly.

Attached is a list of claims for which payments were refused from 13 March 2017, i.e. the date Members signed the Roll of Membership following the 2017 election.

Please note that only claims, which did not meet the requirements of the Assembly Members (Salaries and Expenses) Determination (Northern Ireland) 2016, have been included in the report.  Duplicate claims or claims for recovery of expenditure which were returned to Members for any of the following reasons and then subsequently paid, or which would have been paid if they had been resubmitted, are not included in the report:

(a) Administration errors, e.g. statement not ‘ticked’, form not signed.

(b) Where an incorrect form has been submitted, e.g. a request for reimbursement when the expenditure should have been claimed as ‘Sundries’.

(c) A statement and not an original invoice has been attached.

(d) To process the claim would have exceeded the annual maximum expenditure recoverable.

(e) Where an invoice date relates to the previous financial year.

 

MemberDate of InvoiceSupplier Item CostReason

Rosemary Barton

Nil

       

Jemma Dolan

23/08/2018

Centra

Chocolate

£1.20

Not admissible - claimed as part of a sundries claim

Arlene Foster

01/05/2019

Legraphics

Website Hosting

£228.00

Website had been taken down and unable to verify content.

Arlene Foster

30/04/2019

Legraphics

E-mail Hosting

£78.00

Not an admissible expense.  The Northern Ireland Assembly Commission provides up to 5 email addresses.

Colm Gildernew

22/06/2018

Copytext

Service of scanning equipment

£30.00

Not an admissible expense.  Computer equipment supplied by the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission

Colm Gildernew

Undated

Hegarty's Home Bakery

No details

£73.62

Not an admissible expense - only limited refreshments - tea, coffee, biscuits are allowed.

Colm Gildernew

12/12/2018

Signreload

Sign for Office

£288.00

Did not meet signage requirements of the Determination.

Colm Gildernew

23/11/2018

Hegarty's Home Bakery

Refreshments

£46.83

Not an admissible expense - only limited refreshments - tea, coffee, biscuits are allowed.

Colm Gildernew

18/02/2019

Hegarty's Home Bakery

Refreshments

£29.45

Not an admissible expense - only limited refreshments - tea, coffee, biscuits are allowed.

Colm Gildernew

23/03/2019

Copytext

Computer repair

£30.00

Not an admissible expense.  Computer equipment supplied by Northern Ireland Assembly Commission

Michelle Gildernew

Nil

       

Sean Lynch

06/09/2018

Cherry Tree Home Bakery

Cakes

£6.95

Only limited refreshments - tea, coffee, biscuits admissible.