To ask the Assembly Commission (i) to outline the rationale used to decide that Members must pay for constituency staff training in advance; (ii) whether they will provide a copy of the policy confirming when repayment of legitimate expenses is released; and (iii) how many times repayments for legitimate expenses have not been completed within Commission targets.

For part (i), the wording applied by the Independent Financial Review Panel for paragraph 40 (2) of the Assembly Members (Salaries and Expenses) Determination (Northern Ireland) 2016 requires that “Category 2 costs [i.e. including staff training costs] (save for staff travel costs) must be paid by the member and may then be recovered by the member from the Commission.” The Commission did not seek to amend this provision when it amended the terms and conditions of employment of Members’ staff in August 2020.

For part (ii), a properly vouched claim that is received by 1 pm on Tuesday of week 1, will usually be paid on Thursday of week 1 and a claim received on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday of week 1 or Monday or before 1 pm on Tuesday of week 2, will be paid on Thursday of week 2.

For part (iii), for the 2020-21 financial year, the Commission processed 3,531 claims from Members with 3,255 (92.2%) paid within 10 days from the date of receipt.