Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) inquiry room bookings

Information Standards Freedom of Information Response

Our Ref: FoI 22-20

29 April 2020

Freedom of Information Act 2000

I can confirm that the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission holds information relevant to your request of 23 March 2020.  In your request you asked for the following information:

“Under the Freedom of Information Act, I would like to request details relating to the booking of the Long Gallery and Senate Chamber for the launch of the RHI inquiry report.

For the period from December 1 2019 to March 13 2020, please disclose the following:

1. A copy of all correspondence sent and received internally and externally (redacted where appropriate if necessary) in relation to the booking of the Long Gallery and/or Senate Chamber for the launch of the RHI inquiry report.

2. A copy of any documents accompanying, attached or referred to in the above correspondence.

3. A copy of the diary for the use of both the Senate Chamber and Long Gallery for the month of March, detailing for each date whether the room was booked or not; when it was booked; what event it was booked for; and the times it was booked for.”

Please find information attached in Appendices A – C.

Please note that details of junior staff members, signatures, and contact details have been redacted from the information provided as this information is personal data, as defined section 3(2) of the Data Protection Act 2018 and disclosure of this personal data would breach the first data protection principle.  The reason the information is personal data is that it relates to individuals who are living and can be identified from the information, as defined by section 3 (3) of the Data Protection Act 2018. The first data protection principle requires that personal data is processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject (Article 5 General Data Protection Regulations). This information is therefore exempt from disclosure under section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. No other information has been redacted.

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

• Correspondence 29 January 2020 (PDF, 1 page, 89.5KB)

Appendix B

• Correspondence 4 February 2020 (PDF, 1 page, 64.3LB)

Appendix C