FOI 13-25: Information in regards to the Declaration of Compliance on Recruitment documents submitted by MLAs
Information Standards Freedom of Information Response
27 March 2025
Our Ref: FoI 13-25
Freedom of Information Act 2000
I am writing to confirm that the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission (Assembly Commission) has processed your request dated 29 January 2025 in line with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). In your request, you asked that the Assembly Commission provide-
"Under the Freedom of Information Act, I would like to request copies of 'Declaration of Compliance on Recruitment' documents submitted by MLAs (also known as DC1 forms).
These are referenced in a recent Assembly report on the employment arrangements of former Sinn Féin press officer Michael McMonagle:
The report says (point 58) that these DC1 forms require MLAs to provide, in respect of each of their new employees: a copy of the job advertisement; the job description; and the person specification.
Please disclose the following.
- A blank copy of a DC1 form.
- For each MLA, a copy of (redacted where appropriate if necessary) their DC1 forms submitted from May 2022 to present.
- For each of the above DC1 forms in Q2, a copy of the job advertisements; job descriptions; and person specifications provided."
Our response
The Assembly Commission holds information in relation to your request.
A blank copy of the DC1 form has been provided at Appendix A.
From 1 May 2022 to 17 February 2025, 289 submissions were made by 84 Members. These documents have been provided Appendix B to E.
Copies of Appendix A-E can be obtained my emailing the Information Standards team at foi@niassembly.gov.uk.
S.40 Personal information
Some of the information which you have requested relates to personal data as defined by the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) and the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). This information which you requested is personal data because it is information relating to one or more identifiable living individuals.
The Assembly Commission considers this information to be exempt from disclosure under Section 40(2) (Personal Information) of the FOIA, whereby personal data is exempt from disclosure in certain circumstances.
Section 40(2) of the FOIA provides that any information is exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject and satisfies one of the three conditions.
The Assembly Commission is satisfied that one such condition is satisfied. It is not therefore necessary to consider the other potentially applicable conditions. The relevant condition is set out at section 40(3A) of the FOIA, and is that:
"… disclosure of the information to a member of the public otherwise than under this Act-
(a) would contravene any of the data protection principles…"
The information requested can therefore be disclosed only if to do so would not contravene "any of the data protection principles".
In addition, disclosure of this personal information would be considered a breach of the DPA 2018, Schedule 2, Part 3, Paragraph 16 - Protection of the Rights of Others.
Under Schedule 2, Part 3 Paragraph 16 of the DPA 2018, third party personal data must not be disclosed unless we have the consent of the third party to do so.
Protection of the rights of others: general
16 (1) Article 15(1) to (3) of the UK GDPR (confirmation of processing, access to data and safeguards for third country transfers), and Article 5 of the UK GDPR so far as its provisions correspond to the rights and obligations provided for in Article 15(1) to (3), do not oblige a controller to disclose information to the data subject to the extent that doing so would involve disclosing information relating to another individual who can be identified from the information.
(2) Sub-paragraph (1) does not remove the controller's obligation where -
(a) the other individual has consented to the disclosure of the information to the data subject, or
(b) it is reasonable to disclose the information to the data subject without the consent of the other individual.
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
Data Protection and Governance Officer
Information Standards
