Information in relation to nominations has the Assembly made (or been party to) for orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom

Information Standards Freedom of Information Response

Our Ref: FOI 34-22

8 July 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 17 June 2022 in line with the Freedom of Information Act 2000. In your request, you asked:

“How many (if any) nominations has the Assembly made (or been party to) for orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom?

Please provide a breakdown of nominations per year, and how many (if any) of those nominations were successful.

Please provide a breakdown of nominations per year of current or past: MLAs, MLA's staff, party staff, administration staff, and others. (Where a nominee fits into multiple categories, please use the category for which the main citation was written).

 How many (if any) nominations has the Assembly made (or been party to) for orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom?

The Assembly Commission considers this information to be exempt from disclosure under Section 37(1) (b) of the FOIA 2000.

Section 37 (1) (b) provides an exemption for information relating to the conferring of any honour or dignity by the Crown.

The condition set out in section 37(1) (b) of the FOIA is that:

“Information is exempt information if it relates to

(b)the conferring by the Crown of any honour or dignity.…”

This exemption preserves the integrity and robustness of the honours system in order to ensure that awards are conferred solely on merit. It is also a qualified exemption and the Assembly Commission must weigh the public interest in maintaining the exemption against the public interest in disclosure.

 

Please provide a breakdown of nominations per year, and how many (if any) of those nominations were successful.

The Assembly Commission considers this information to be exempt from disclosure under Section 37(1) (b) of the FOIA 2000.

Section 37 (1) (b) provides an exemption for information relating to the conferring of any honour or dignity by the Crown.

The condition set out in section 37(1) (b) of the FOIA is that:

“Information is exempt information if it relates to

(b)the conferring by the Crown of any honour or dignity.…

This exemption preserves the integrity and robustness of the honours system in order to ensure that awards are conferred solely on merit. It is also a qualified exemption and the Assembly Commission must weigh the public interest in maintaining the exemption against the public interest in disclosure.

The Public Interest Test conducted by the Assembly Commission is attached at Appendix A

Please provide a breakdown of nominations per year of current or past: MLAs, MLA's staff, party staff, administration staff, and others. (Where a nominee fits into multiple categories, please use the category for which the main citation was written).

Nominations relating to Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) or their Political Party staff are not processed through the Assembly Commission. The Assembly Commission would only submit nominations relating to Assembly Commission staff or officeholders. Therefore, information on nominations relating to MLA’s or Political Party staff is not held.

In order to provide advice and assistance under section 16 of the FOIA it should be noted that all recipients of any honour are listed on the official GOV.UK website. This information is provided in chronological order.

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

Public Interest Test

Ref: FOI 34-22

Request for Information

FOI Exemption

For Disclosure

Against Disclosure

Conclusion

Nominations that the Assembly made (or been party

to) for orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom.

 

a breakdown of nominations per year, and how many (if any) of those nominations were successful.

 

A breakdown of nominations per year of current or past:

MLAs, MLA's staff, party staff, administration staff, and others. (Where a

nominee fits into multiple categories, please use the category for which

the main citation was written).

 

Section 37 (1) (b)

“Information is exempt information if it relates to

 

(b)the conferring by the Crown of any honour or dignity.…”

 

There is a general public interest in having an honours system that is objective, accountable and transparent so that the public can understand how and why decisions are made.

If the public can see how the process works then they are more likely to have confidence that honours are conferred on merit, and not on the basis of other factors. For example, a candidate’s connections or political views. It also helps reassure the public that the relevant decision-makers are not subject to any form of undue influence.

There is a safe space argument that relevant decision-makers should be able to discuss and evaluate each individual honours case on its own merits, free from pressure and scrutiny from the public, media, lobbyists and the candidates themselves.

The honours process relies on the principle of confidentiality, both in terms of the views put forward by the members of the nomination committees and the submissions provided by third parties concerning the suitability of nominees.

There is a risk that the routine disclosure of the participants’ views through FOIA could erode that principle of confidentiality. This in turn could lead to a chilling effect, whereby participants will be less willing to express their free and frank opinions in future.

Such a loss of frankness and candour could result in poorer quality debate and decision-making and have a detrimental effect on the robustness of the nomination process.

The risk of a chilling effect is at its greatest during the nomination process and continues to be a significant issue in the period immediately following the publication of the honours list.

The nominees themselves are likely to have a reasonable expectation that their nominations will remain confidential until the honours list is officially published.

Candidates who were nominated but did not receive an honour might expect this confidentiality to extend beyond the publication of the honours list. This is due to the potential distress and embarrassment they may suffer should this become public knowledge.

In consideration of arguments put forth in the public interest test, the Assembly Commission has found that the reasons against disclosure outweigh the reason for and the exemption has been applied.

 

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