FoI 21-25: Information in regards to the Northern Ireland Assembly logo design
Information Standards Freedom of Information Response
Our Ref: FoI 21-25
13 March 2025
Freedom of Information Act 2000
I am writing to confirm that the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission (Assembly Commission) has processed your request dated 13 February 2025 in line with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). Your request was as follows-
'1. Two designs were preferred for the Assembly logo, according to the report on September 15 1998, but neither were agreed on and the current Assembly symbol was adopted instead. Please provide images/scans of the two designs in question, in the highest resolution/quality available, and any details of who was for or against these, or who made any comment on these; and please advise same for any other design besides the eventually adopted design, and the initial two designs mentioned here, and provide images/scans of any other such symbols considered, in the highest resolution/quality available.
2. Please provide any more details of records/transcripts/minutes from meetings of CAPO that pertained to headed paper, stationery, and what logo or symbol to use to represent the Assembly, be it for this purpose or another purpose - in particular, please provide any more details of which members were for a given symbol, which members were against a given symbol, and any comments made by members on any symbol or in regard to this matter. I am particularly interested in any note of which member(s) first suggested the use of the flax flower symbol, or made mention of it, as this is not explicitly stated in the reports I have viewed.
3. The "Flax Flower" symbol, as it is first described as, is said to be "displayed in both the Senate and Commons Chambers". Can you confirm that this was following the completion of refurbishment/ repair works following the Parliament Buildings fire of 1995?
4. Can you advise whether the Flax Flower designs "displayed in both the Senate and Commons Chambers" in September 1998 are the same such designs displayed in those chambers in the present day?
5. Can you advise whether the Flax Flower designs "displayed in both the Senate and Commons Chambers" in September 1998 were the same such designs displayed in those chambers prior to the Parliament Buildings fire of 1995, and that these symbols were reinstated on the basis of making the building's interior look as close to how it did prior to the fire?
6. Assuming the Flax Flower symbol designs "displayed in both the Senate and Commons Chambers" in September 1998 had not been first introduced amid the renovations following the 1995 fire, and that such designs/symbols existed in the chambers prior to the 1995 fire, when were these symbols first introduced, and who designed these? Were they directly derivative from Leslie Durbin's 1986 flax one pound coin design, and who made decisions regarding the adoption of the flax symbol for the interior of the Assembly chamber?'
Our response
Information potentially relevant to this request is more than 20 years old, and is not held by Assembly Commission.
In line with the Assembly Commission's Retention and Disposal Schedule, this information, assuming it was at one time held by the Assembly Commission, will have been destroyed or transferred to the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI).
Further inquiries should be directed to PRONI, which may be contacted at proni@communities-ni.gov.uk.
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
