To ask the Assembly Commission to detail (i) the progress being made to ensure the Northern Ireland Assembly is a living wage employer; and (ii) the actions taken to ensure all suppliers to Parliament Buildings, contracted by the Commission, are meeting living wage standards.

The Assembly Commission is already a living wage employer. The pay scales for all staff employed by the Assembly Commission exceed the National Living Wage. These pay scales are also applied to temporary workers engaged through a temporary worker agency. The Assembly Commission also has an Apprenticeship and Placement Framework. Apprentices engaged by the Assembly Commission through this Framework are paid the National Living Wage as opposed to the lower apprentice rate.

All of the Assembly Commission’s suppliers are required to comply with statutory requirements and this includes payment of the National Living Wage. For a contract where the contractor’s employees are employed exclusively on the Assembly Commission contract, pricing schedules are reviewed to ensure that these comply with the Living Wage requirement.