Northern Irish politicians votes for or against the Hunting of Wild Mammals Bill

Information Standards Freedom of Information Response

Our Ref: FOI 59-21

14 December 2021

Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“FOIA”)

I am writing to confirm that the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission (Assembly Commission) has processed your request dated 7 December 2021 in line with the Freedom of Information Act 2000. In your request, you asked:

“Under FOI can I request the full information regarding the NI Politicians vote for or against regarding hunting with dogs bill to include all information of the public officials voters names, parties, etc. that make up all the votes cast.”

Under FOIA legislation, the Assembly Commission is not required to provide information that is already available in a form accessible by the public.

Section 16 (1) of the FOIA says that a public authority should provide advice and assistance "so far as it would be reasonable to expect the public authority to do so", to anyone who has made or is thinking of making a request for information.

Therefore, you will find a list of all Members that voted for (aye) and against (no), here and information on the party affiliation of Members can be found on the website, here.

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.

Yours sincerely

INFORMATION STANDARDS OFFICE