FOI 13-26: A request for information on the use of management consultants since 2024

Information Standards Freedom of Information Response

Our ref: FoI 13-26

3 April 2026

Freedom of Information Act 2000

I am writing to confirm that the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission (Assembly Commission) has processed your request dated 2 March 2026 in line with the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Your request was as follows:

‘...Since the 2024 financial year how many times have you used management consultants?’

Our response

The Assembly Commission follows the guidance issued by the Department of Finance when recording and reporting expenditure on consultants. A copy of the guidance is available in the following link: FD (DFP) 07/12 (revised 16 Oct 2017).

Under this guidance, management consultants are recorded as external consultancy.

From 2024, the Assembly Commission has used external consultants for six separate projects across several different business areas.

Further Information

You may 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