FOI 40-25: Information in regards to Assembly Travel Allowance claim forms submitted by MLAs

Information Standards Freedom of Information Response

25 July 2025

Our ref: FoI 40-25

Freedom of Information Act 2000 ("FOIA")

I am writing to confirm that the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission (Assembly Commission) has processed your request dated 19 June 2025 in line with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

In your request of 19 June, you asked:

"As a follow up to FOI 37-25, I would like to make a request for the Assembly Travel Allowance claim forms submitted by MLAs."

Following advice and assistance provided to you on 20 June 2025, it was agreed that the above request for Assembly Travel Allowance claim forms submitted by MLAs would be addressed as a separate request, reference FOI 40-25. In addition, the Assembly Commission agreed to provide you with a summary table of Travel Allowance Days by financial year.

You then wrote to us again on 26 June 2025 to clarify your request stating that:

"I only need the attendance records submitted by MLAs for the last two years that they are available - (if 2024/25 available then that and 2023/24, if not then 2023/24 and 2023/22)."

Our response

The Assembly Commission holds a summary table of Assembly Travel Allowance (ATA) days by Member for each of the last five financial years as outlined in Appendix 1.

Travel Allowance Claim Forms

The Assembly Commission holds information in relation to your request. Upon review of the records, the Assembly Commission has determined that this request is exempt from disclosure under section 14 FOIA. This provides that a public authority is not obliged to comply with a request for information if the request is vexatious. The term 'vexatious' has a particular meaning in this context and does not concern your intentions or bona fides.

Rather the Assembly Commission considers that complying with the request would place a burden on Assembly Commission employees which outweighs the value of the request. To comply with the request would require Assembly Commission employees to collate and process an onerous volume of documentation and redact information.

This would impose an unreasonable burden on the Assembly Commission in circumstances where the substance of the information sought has been provided to you in Appendix 1.

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

INFORMATION STANDARDS

Appendix 1: Summary of Assembly Travel Allowance (ATA) days by Member for each of the last five financial years.