Complaints of sexual misconduct
Information Standards Freedom of Information Response
Our Ref: FOI 11-21
12 April 2021
Freedom of Information Act 2000
I am writing to confirm that the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission (Assembly Commission) does not hold the information which you requested on 15th March 2021. In your request you asked for the following information:
“A full count and disclosure of the following with the names of all victims redacted.
A) All complaints of statutory rape.
B) All complaints detailing “outing” or breaches of s22 of the gender recognition act 2004.
C) All other complaints of sexual misconduct.
D) All complaints of sexual assault.
E) All complaints of unwanted contact.
Raised by any female or transgender female member of the public against any male or transgender male member of the service (including MLAs) between 1/1/2010 - 1/1/2020”
Further, in your correspondence dated 28th March 2021 you stated that the Assembly Commission should:
“Only disclose the details of the male accused if the accusation against them has been proven true within a criminal court of law in the United Kingdom and has not been overturned by a higher tier of fact.”
The Assembly Commission does not hold information relevant to your request set out above.
The Assembly Commission does not hold any record of any such incidents noted in A-E above.
You have the right to request a formal review by the 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.
The Assembly Commission may publish details of your FOI request and our official response within the organisational disclosure log. The request will be completely anonymised and you will not be identified in any way. This is to meet the requirements as laid out by in the agreed publication scheme with the Information Commissioners’ Office.
If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please remember to quote the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
INFORMATION STANDARDS
