FOI 8-26:A request relating to the cost to the public surrounding questions asked by Timothy Gaston MLA and Jon Burrows MLA
Information Standards Freedom of Information Response
Our ref: FoI 8-26
27 February 2026
Freedom of Information Act 2000
I am writing to confirm that the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission (Assembly Commission) has processed your request dated 6 February 2026 in line with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). Your request was as follows:
“...I would like to request the following
1. Amount of questions from Timothy Gaston MLA and the amount this has cost the public purse in answering.
2. Amount of questions from Jon Burrows MLA and the amount this has cost the public purse answering.”
Our response
The Assembly Commission considers some of this information to be exempt from disclosure under section 21 of the FOIA. Section 21 provides that information is exempt from disclosure under the FOIA if it is reasonably accessible to the applicant by other means. The questions asked by Mr Burrows MLA and Mr Gaston MLA are, as with questions from any other MLA, published on the Assembly commission website. Members may ask both oral and written questions.
A list of the Questions for Written Answer tabled by MLAs are published to the Assembly Commission website on a daily basis. The answers to written questions are published as and when they are received by the Assembly and you can find them in Questions Search. You can find older questions for written answer using the Written Answer Calendar Search.
Questions selected for Oral answer are published on the website on Friday mornings. Answers to oral questions are noted in the Official Report (Hansard) for each sitting. Alternatively you can re-watch Question Time on niassembly.tv.
A list of Freedom of Information responses is also available on our website. Please click here to view.
Costs
The Assembly Commission does not hold this information. The options available to MLAs as outlined above are considered routine business and are not costed separately.
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
