A request for information in relation to transgender MLAs, recorded complaints of crimes raised against such members and measures in place to protect such members
Our Ref: FOI 8-22
21 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 26 January 2022 in line with the Freedom of Information Act 2000. In your request, you asked:
“I request the following under the Freedom of Information Act 2000:
A) A full list of all elected male and transmale MLAs.
B) All recorded complaints of sex crime or violent crime raised against such members by women or transgender women along with the outcome of each complaint being found as innocent, not-proven- or guilty by any British Criminal Court.
C) All measures in place by the Assembly to protect women or transgender women from none-consensual action by male or transgender male MLAs. Between 25/1/2019 - 25/1/2022.”
A) A full list of all elected male and transmale MLAs
The Assembly Commission does not retain details on Members’ gender in a form that is readily available. Furthermore, under the FOIA 2000 we are not required to create a dataset for the purpose of an FOI request.
Under Section 21 of the FOIA 2000, the Assembly Commission is not required to provide information that is accessible to the public by other means. However, in order to provide advice and assistance under section 16 of the FOIA 2000, I have provided a link to our website which lists all elected Members. Please click here to view.
B) All recorded complaints of sex crime or violent crime raised against such members by women or transgender women along with the outcome of each complaint being found as innocent, not-proven- or guilty by any British Criminal Court.
The Commissioner for Standards (‘the Commissioner’) provides the Committee on Standards and Privileges (‘the Committee’) with a copy of each originating document from all complainants against Members alleging breaches of the Assembly Members’ Code of Conduct (‘the Code’); but such documents may disclose a number of different complaints of alleged breaches of the Code and determining the number of complaints is a matter for the Commissioner.
Under section 27(3) of the Assembly Members (Independent Financial Review and Standards) Act (Northern Ireland) 2011, the Assembly is required to publish all investigation reports by the Commissioner.
The Commissioner’s investigation report is published as an appendix to the Committee’s report, which, where applicable, may recommend to the Assembly that sanctions be applied in respect of a Member who has been found by the Committee to have breached the Code. The Committee’s reports on complaint cases in the applicable mandates are available here.
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.In that context, I have therefore included a link to the Commissioner for Standards website where you will find all previously published annual reports dating back to 2012-13.
C) All measures in place by the Assembly to protect women or transgender women from none-consensual action by male or transgender male MLAs. Between 25/1/2019 - 25/1/2022.”
If any person wishes to lodge a complaint against a Member irrespective of gender, they can do so by following the relevant complaints process. Any such complaint would be dealt with by the Commissioner for Standards (‘the Commissioner’). There is also a Staff/Member Protocol (attached at Appendix A) under which Assembly Commission staff can raise an informal concern or formal complaint.
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
DATA PROTECTION & GOVERNANCE OFFICER
