FOI 9-23: Temporary workers in the Northern Ireland Assembly

Information Standards Freedom of Information Response

Our Ref: FOI 9-23

12 May 2023

Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“FOIA”)

I am writing to confirm that the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission (Assembly Commission) has processed your request dated 18 April 2023 in line with the Freedom of Information Act 2000. In your request, you asked:

1. “Please can you provide me with the following information for the most recent complete fiscal year:

A) Total number of temporary workers engaged by your organisation, broken down by department or function, if possible.

In total 42 temporary workers were engaged by the Assembly Commission during the period 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023. At 31 March 2023, 18 temporary workers were engaged by the Commission. The table provided at Appendix A shows the number of temporary workers broken down by business area/department.

B) Total annual expenditure on temporary workers, including a breakdown of costs by department or function, if possible.

The total annual expenditure on temporary workers during the period 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023 was £1,071,281.

C) Total number of agency suppliers (Preferred Suppliers/non-Preferred Suppliers) in your organisation’s labour supply chain

Under the current contract for the provision of temporary workers, the Assembly Commission works with five recruitment agencies.

2. Details of any existing Managed Service Programme or Provider (MSP) and/or Vendor Management System (VMS) used to manage temporary workers:

A) Name of the MSP and VMS.

B) Date the contract was awarded.

C) Date of contract expiration.

D) Name of the government procurement framework through which the MSP and VMS were procured.

The Assembly Commission does not have a contract for a Managed Service Programme or Provider (MSP) and/or Vendor Management System (VMS)to manage temporary workers.

3. Details of any upcoming retendering or renewal processes related to your MSP and VMS contracts:

The Assembly Commission does not have a contract for an MSP and/or VMS to manage temporary workers. As such, there are not any upcoming retendering or renewal processes for a MSP or VMS contract.

A) Anticipated date for the retendering or renewal process to commence.

The Assembly Commission does not have a contract for an MSP and/or VMS to manage temporary workers. As such, there are not any upcoming retendering or renewal processes for a MSP or VMS contract.

B) Name and contact information of the person responsible for overseeing the retendering or renewal process.”

The Assembly Commission does not have any upcoming retendering or renewal processes for an MSP or VMS contract. In June 2021, the Assembly Commission procured a contract for the provision of temporary workers for a period of up to 5 years.

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 may appeal to the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF which will undertake an independent review.

The Assembly Commission may publish details of your FOI request and its 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

Temporary Worker Totals by Business Area from 1 April 2022 - 31 March 2023