FOI 18-24: Health and safety violations
Information Standards Freedom of Information Response
Our Ref: FOI 18-24
17 April 2024
Freedom of Information Act 2000
The Northern Ireland Assembly Commission (Assembly Commission) has processed your request dated 16 March 2024 under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). In your request (which I have enumerated for ease of reference), you requested:
“Everything that has anything to do with the concern I reported [of a series of health and safety violations on 28/2/2024]. To include:
i. All emails, documents and call logs.
ii. The full report on the investigation carried out.
iii. The logs of all the calls that took place [showing] the dates and times at which they took place.
iv. The names of the contacts with whom HSENI has discussed the issue and everything said… in breach of GDPR.
v. The misinformation that HSENI has been told regarding my dismissal.
vi. Information regarding the ongoing court cases over Parliament Building's roof”
Our response
(i) All emails, documents and call logs.
Copies of e-mails and other electronic messages you raised regarding this concern on this occasion have already been provided to you in our response to DSR_24_001.
The Assembly Commission does not maintain call logs or record calls.
(ii) The full report on the investigation carried out.
Information regarding temporary failures of the infrastructure providing heating to Parliament Buildings on or around 28 February 2024 was provided to the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) by the Assembly Commission.
The Assembly Commission has not carried out an investigation into this incident. The Assembly Commission understands that an investigation by the HSENI is continuing and the Assembly Commission has not been informed of the outcome of this investigation.
(iii) The logs of all the calls that took place. All of which should show the dates and times at which they took place.
The Assembly Commission does not maintain call logs or record calls.
(iv) The names of the contacts with whom HSENI has discussed the issue and everything that may have said in a breach of GDPR.
A request which requires a public authority to evaluate whether the provision of information to a third party ‘breached GDPR’ is not a request for information within the meaning of section 1 of the FOIA.
Information regarding temporary failures of the infrastructure providing heating to Parliament Buildings on or around 28 February 2024 was provided to the HSENI by or on behalf of Mr Steven Baxter, the Director Corporate Services; Ms Terri Quigley, the Head of Facilities Management; Mr David Lynn, the former Head of Building Services and Mr Ken Eccles, the Head of Usher Services.
Three other more junior Assembly Commission employees were also involved in provision of information to the HSENI. Their identities have not been disclosed because the Assembly Commission considers the identity of these employees to be exempt from disclosure under section 40(2) of the FOIA. This information is personal data, is not sought by the data subject, and a condition set out at 40(3A) is satisfied.
The relevant condition is that the information would contravene one or more of the data protection principles. The Assembly Commission considers that disclosure of this information would contravene the first data protection principle (the personal data must be processed lawfully, fairly, and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject). The Assembly Commission does not consider the disclosure of the identity of these individuals to the public to be a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim, and as such does not consider it to be lawful for the purposes of Article 5 GDPR.
(v) The misinformation that HSENI has been told regarding my dismissal.
A request which requires a public authority to evaluate whether it has provided ‘misinformation’ is not a request for information within the meaning of section 1 of the FOIA.
(vi) Information regarding the ongoing court cases over Parliament Building's roof.
As outlined in the response to FOI 17-24, the Assembly Commission holds information about current legal proceedings regarding the roof of Parliament Buildings. For the reasons given in the response to FOI 17-24, the Assembly Commission considers information about these proceedings to be exempt information
Further information
You have the right to request an internal review of this decision by the Assembly Commission. If you wish to request such a review, please write to me at the above address. If, after that review, you are dissatisfied with the way in which the Assembly Commission has handled your request for information, you may complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Your request for information and our response may be published in the disclosure log maintained by the Assembly Commission under a publication scheme agreed with the ICO. The request and our response will be anonymised.
Yours sincerely
Data Protection and Governance Officer
