Review of the Adequacy and Effectiveness of the Statement of Entitlements for an Official Opposition at the Northern Ireland Assembly
Addendum to the Report
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Review of the Adequacy and Effectiveness of the Statement of Entitlements for an Official Opposition at the Northern Ireland Assembly (June 2021)
8.6 Resource Entitlements - Table - page 28
Note – amended figures highlighted in bold italics
| Parliament | Example of Party with 10 Seats | Average per Seat |
|---|---|---|
|
NI Assembly - no official opposition recognised (inc Whips Allowance) |
99,150 |
9,915 |
|
NI Assembly – for an official opposition party (inc Whips Allowance) |
124,090 |
12,409 |
|
House of Commons (UK) (estimated figure) |
283,199 |
28,319 |
|
Dáil (RoI) (estimated figure converted from € to £ at 0.86) |
553,564 (plus the allocation of party staff resource) |
55,356 (plus the allocation of party staff resource) |
|
Scottish Parliament |
89,260 |
8,920 |
|
Senedd Cymru/Welsh Parliament (estimated figure) |
263,372 |
26,337 |
8.6 Resource Entitlements – 5th Paragraph - page 29
Using the example of an opposition party of 10 seats, the additional funding currently provided to an opposition party under the FAPP Scheme is £24,940 per annum (see Table on page 28). In effect this allows the party to employ only one additional full time member of staff at a lower grade. A reasonable level of support would provide an opposition party of 10 seats with up to three additional full time staff (depending on grade) covering specialist advice, research, policy development, communications and administration duties. To enable a party to employ this number of staff with the level of skills necessary, and to cover miscellaneous and travel costs, funding of
£100,000 (per annum) is proposed over and above the general level of FAPP funding. This would raise the total level of funding for an official opposition party from
£124,090 to £199,150 or from £12,409 to £19,915 per member. This proposed figure is significantly above the level of funding in the Scottish Parliament but below the level provided in Senedd Cymru/Welsh Parliament, Westminster and the Dá il.
