FOI 57-24: Information regarding the number of complaints received regarding Mr Timothy Gaston MLA since 16 July 2024

Information Standards Freedom of Information Response

20 December 2024

Our ref: FoI 57-24

Freedom of Information Act 2000

I am writing to confirm that the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission (Assembly Commission) has processed your request dated 4 December 2024 under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). In your request, you asked for the following information-

  1. 'The number of complaints received regarding Mr Timothy Gaston MLA since 16 July 2024
  2. A breakdown of the nature of each complaint regarding Mr Gaston since that date
  3. A breakdown of the gender of each complainant regarding Mr Gaston since that date
  4. The number of complaints regarding Mr Gaston which have been upheld since that date
  5. The number of complaints regarding Mr Gaston, which are still being investigated
  6. Any actions taken to date following complaints received regarding Mr Gaston'.

 

Our response

Section 1(1) of the FOIA entitles a person to make a request for information to a public authority, and to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds information of the description specified in the request. If that is the case, the information will be communicated to the person, subject to any applicable exemptions.

It should be noted that members of the public may complain directly to the Northern Ireland Assembly Commissioner for Standards ('the Commissioner') about the conduct of MLAs.

The Assembly Commission will be unaware of complaints received directly by the Commissioner and not yet communicated to the Committee for Standards and Privileges ('CSP').

The Commissioner is not subject to the FOIA, and information to which Assembly Commission employees have access for the purposes of providing services to the Commissioner is not held by the Assembly Commission within the meaning of section 1 of the 2000 Act.[1]

 

As regards your questions, and adopting the numbering above-

  1. The Assembly Commission is aware of two complaints about Mr Gaston since 16 July 2024.
  2. Both complaints were made to the Committee to the Executive Office ('the Committee') and related to the interaction between Mr Gaston and an employee of the Age NI charity at a meeting of the Committee on 25 September 2024. The conduct of members is a matter for the Commissioner and the CSP and not for the Committee, and the complainants were advised to contact the Commissioner.
  3. The gender of the complainants is not stated in the correspondence.
  4. It is for the CSP, informed by the report of the Commissioner, to decide whether or not to uphold a complaint. CSP decisions and reports will be published on the committee webpage. No complaint against Mr Gaston has been considered by the CSP since 16 June 2024.
  5. The investigation of complaints is a matter for the Commissioner. The Assembly Commission is not aware of the total number of complaints received by the Commissioner concerning Mr Gaston or the stage to which they may have progressed.
  6. The complainants were advised to contact the Commissioner. Further action (if any) will be a matter for the CSP to recommend to the Assembly.

 

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 faithfully,

INFORMATION STANDARDS

 

[1] Under Schedule 4 to the Assembly Members (Independent Financial Review and Standards) Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 'the Commission shall provide the Commissioner with such administrative and other support, including staff, services and accommodation, as the Commissioner may reasonably require'.