Correspondence received by the Assembly Commission discussed under Agenda Item 12 in the minutes of Wednesday 17 February 2021

Information Standards Freedom of Information Response

Our Ref: FOI 7-22

10 February 2022

Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“FOIA”)

I am writing to confirm that the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission (Assembly Commission) has processed your request dated 25 January 2022 in line with the Freedom of Information Act 2000. In your request, you asked:

“I would like to request a copy of the text, the response, and any additional content attached to a letter received by the Assembly Commission which was dated 6 January 2021 and discussed under Agenda Item 12 in the minutes of Wednesday 17 February 2021. It is listed as follows in the same minutes under Correspondence (Agenda Item 7):

'A letter dated 6 January 2021 from the Rt Hon Arlene Foster MLA, Dr Steve Aiken OBE MLA and Mr Jim Allister QC MLA, regarding the erection of a centenary stone within the curtilage of Parliament Buildings and the Speaker’s response dated 12 January 2021. Members noted that this issue would be considered under agenda item 12.”

The information that you have requested is attached at Appendix A (Separate).

Please note that signatures of the Members have been redacted as this information is personal data, as defined by section 3(2) of the Data Protection Act 2018. Disclosure of this personal data would breach the first data protection principle. 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 UK 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.

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