Communications between parliamentary drafters and those involved in drafting the Period Products (Free Provision) Bill

Our Ref: FOI 11-22

01 April 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 1 February 2022 in line with the Freedom of Information Act 2000. In your request, you asked:

“I re-submit this FoI to ask for all communications between this 'panel of professional parliamentary drafters' and anyone else involved in the drafting of the Catney period products bill.

I am also requesting you tell me the names of all the people who belong to this select group of 'professional parliamentary drafters. '”

1)     All communications between this 'panel of professional parliamentary drafters' and anyone else involved in the drafting of the Catney period products bill.

I can confirm that the Assembly Commission holds some information relevant to the scope of your request. The Assembly Commission is not required to provide or publish this information as it is exempt as per section 21 Information Accessible by Other Means and section 36(2)(b)(i) and (ii) Effective Conduct of Public Affairs, respectively, of the FoIA. Please refer to Appendix A for further explanation. 

2)     Names of all the people who belong to this select group of 'professional parliamentary drafters'.

For the purpose of Private Members Bills (“PMB”), the Assembly Commission instructs the following panel of Parliamentary Drafters:

  1. BDB Pitmans LLP;
  2. Daniel Greenberg; and
  3. Ronan Cormacain.

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

 

 

APPENDIX A

“I re-submit this FoI to ask for all communications between this 'panel of professional parliamentary drafters' and anyone else involved in the drafting of the Catney period products bill.

I am also requesting you tell me the names of all the people who belong to this select group of 'professional parliamentary drafters. ' ”

Exemption Section 36

Some of the information the Assembly Commission holds, which would constitute, ‘communications between the panel of professional parliamentary drafters and anyone else involved in the drafting of the Catney period products bill’ has been withheld under section 36 of the FoIA, specifically section 36(2)(b)(i) and 36(2)(b)(ii) as it is the opinion of the qualified person that disclosure would prejudice both the free and frank provision of advice to Members and the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation between Members and Assembly Commission staff. 

The relevant parts of Section 36 state: 

“(2) Information to which this section applies is exempt information if, in the reasonable opinion of a qualified person, disclosure of the information under this Act-

(b) would, or would be likely to, inhibit—

(i) the free and frank provision of advice, or

(ii) the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation.”

We have sought the opinion of our qualified person; the Speaker. He is of the opinion that the exemptions at section 36(2)(b)(i) and section 36(2)(b)(ii) of the FoIA are engaged and concluded that the disclosure of this information would prejudice the free and frank provision of advice to Members and the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation between Members and Assembly Commission staff. 

Section 36 is a qualified exemption, so we must also consider the balance of the public interest. 

The factors in favour of maintaining the exemptions are: 

  • The provision of advice and free and frank exchange of views by officials is a major part of their roles and is part of an established practice integral to the function of supported PMBs;
  • Disclosure would discourage Assembly Commission staff from offering Members a full range of advice and expertise on the legislative options available to them;
  • Disclosure would inhibit Assembly Commission staff from offering Members a full range of free and frank advice on forming an initial proposal and would have a chilling effect;
  • Disclosure would inhibit the ability of Assembly Commission staff to help Members shape legislation which gives effect to Members’ policy objectives;
  • Disclosure would inhibit future free and frank discussion between Members, Parliamentary drafters and Assembly Commission staff, both as regards to PMBs and more generally (e.g. as regards proposed changes to government legislation);
  • Disclosure would inhibit Members from discussing or developing PMBs by exposing deliberations, alternative approaches and proposals;
  • Disclosure would inhibit Members’ use of the Assembly Commission’s Non-Executive Bills Unit, encouraging use of less-experienced private providers as an alternative to this service, and mitigating against the development of effective legislation.

The factors in favour of disclosing the information are:

  • Assembly Commission staff would still provide advice/give their view regardless of whether there is a risk of publication as this is within their remit;
  • Maintaining the accountability and transparency of the work undertaken by the Members;
  • Promotion of public understanding of the inner workings of the Assembly; and
  • The safeguarding of democratic processes by transparency.

Having considered the public interest in disclosure and the public interest in maintaining the exemption under section 36(2) FoIA, the Assembly Commission is satisfied that, in all of the circumstances of this case, the public interest in disclosing the information is outweighed by the public interest in maintaining the exemption provided for under section 36(2) FoIA.

Exemption Section 21

Under FoIA, the Assembly Commission is not required to provide information that is already available in a form accessible by the public. It is exempt under section 21 of the FoIA as the information is reasonably available by other means. In consideration of the duty under section 16 of the FoIA to provide advice and assistance, the Assembly Commission has provided the following links to publicly available documents relating to the Period Products (Free Provision) Bill, which fall within the scope of the request.

  1. Period Products Bill: Consultation Summary
  2. Assembly Commission, Research and Information Service Bill Paper on the Period Products (Free Provision) Bill 
  3. Women’s Resource and Development Agency: Response to PMB on Period Poverty
  4. Submission by Northern Ireland Women’s European Platform to Pat Catney MLA
  5. Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act 2021
  6. Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act 2021: Explanatory notes
  7. Department of Education: Equality and Human Rights Policy Screening for Pilot Scheme to Address Period Poverty in Schools

 

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