To ask the Assembly Commission whether it encountered any difficulties in implementing the sections of the Independent Financial Review Panel’s 2016 determination relating to Members’ staff.

Members will be aware that the March 2016 Determination was published by the Independent Financial Review Panel on 23 March 2016 for implementation on 1 April 2016. However, many of its provisions only became effective from 6 May 2016.

The 2016 Determination introduced radical changes to the financial support framework for Members especially regarding terms and conditions for Members’ support staff and the rental of premises for use as a constituency office.

The employment of support staff is a matter for individual Members as the employer of those staff. The Commission’s role is an administrative one to process salary payments and to ensure that the provisions of any Determination issued by the Panel are met.

A number of difficulties were experienced due to the short timescale that was available to make the necessary administrative changes. These related to the administration of the new criteria for claiming support staff costs including the restriction on hours that could be worked by staff and the introduction of pay scales. I am aware that many Members experienced difficulties regarding changes to the terms and conditions of employment for their staff but these were not a matter for the Commission as they were precisely set out by the Panel in the Determination.

I am also aware that Members faced difficulties in securing leases that contained the wording set out in the Determination relating to a landlord’s responsibility to make repairs to the premises.

It is worth noting that the independence of the Panel is enshrined in the Act of the Assembly which created the Panel. The Panel is not subject to the direction or control of the Commission or the Assembly. The Commission does not have the legal authority to amend, overturn or ignore the specific provisions made by the Panel in a Determination.