Furlough and the Assembly Commission

Information Standards Freedom of Information Response

Our Ref: FOI 14-21

30 April 2021

Freedom of Information Act 2000

I am writing to confirm that the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission (Assembly Commission) holds information relevant to your request of 7 April 2021.  In your request you asked for the following information:

“- the number of employees each month from February 2020 to March 2021 and their departments

- the total staff each month on “furlough” under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme placed on furlough

- the departments these employees were within

- the amount claimed and paid by the “furlough” scheme by HMRC

- the number of redundancy payments made from Feb 2020 to March 2021 and the total figure of payments

- the organisation chart of staff”

Clarification of your request was sought on 08 April 2021 as follows:

“For clarification purposes are you referring to Northern Ireland Assembly Commission Secretariat staff only?”

You responded on 08 April 2021 as follows:

“To clarify, it covers everything the Assembly Commission is responsible for providing to enable the work of the Assembly to function.

It would not extend the MLAs, their staff, offices but would, for example, include the catering department or the estates and facilities departments.”

Please see the information attached at Appendix A.

 

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.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me.  Please remember to quote the reference number above.

Yours sincerely

INFORMATION STANDARDS

 

Appendix A

1. The number of employees each month from February 2020 to March 2021 and their departments

MonthOffice of the Clerk/Chief ExecutiveCorporate ServicesParliamentary ServicesLegal, Governance and Research ServicesTotal Full Time Equivalent by month

Feb-20

6.0

105.5

134.2

45.9

291.6

Mar-20

6.0

106.5

134.2

43.2

289.9

Apr-20

6.0

106.5

133.5

43.2

289.2

May-20

6.0

107.9

133.5

43.2

290.6

Jun-20

6.0

107.1

133.5

43.2

289.8

Jul-20

6.0

107.1

134.7

43.2

291

Aug-20

6.0

107.2

135.7

42

290.9

Sep-20

6.0

106.4

138.8

42.7

293.9

Oct-20

7.0

106.4

138.6

43.7

295.7

Nov-20

6.0

108.4

136.6

44.2

295.2

Dec-20

6.0

109.3

137.6

44.6

297.5

Jan-21

6.0

109.3

137.6

44.6

297.5

Feb-21

6.0

108.9

138.7

43.6

297.2

Mar-21

6.0

109.5

138.3

             43.4

297.2

* Staff working in estates/ facilities are employed directly by the Assembly Commission and are included in the table for Assembly Commission employees.

Services relating to catering, cleaning, portering, minor capital works, maintenance and broadcasting are provided by contractors employed by the Commission. The staff providing these services are employed directly by these contractors and are not included in the figures provided for Assembly Commission employees.

 

2. The total staff each month on “furlough” under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme placed on furlough.

There were no staff placed on “furlough” under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

 

3. The departments these employees were within

There were no staff placed on “furlough” so this is not applicable.

 

4. The amount claimed and paid by the “furlough” scheme by HMRC

There were no staff placed on “furlough” so this is not applicable.

 

5. The number of redundancy payments made from Feb 2020 to March 2021 and the total figure of payments

No staff were made redundant during this time and no payments were made.

 

6. The organisation chart of staff

This can be accessed on the Assembly Commissions’ website.