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Written Question
Northern Ireland Office: Health and Safety
Tuesday 20th February 2024

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether all (a) buildings and (b) workplaces staff from their Department occupy have a suitable and sufficient risk assessment under Section 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)

The Northern Ireland Office is co-located in two locations in London and Belfast, and these sites are managed by other government departments.

The Northern Ireland Office follows Ministry of Justice policy, which complies with Health and Safety legislation. The Northern Ireland Office requires all its employees to undertake mandatory training in Health and Safety compliance, as well as workstation risk assessments for new starters, employees whose work environment changes, and in pregnancy.


Written Question
Northern Ireland Office: Conditions of Employment
Tuesday 7th February 2023

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if they will take steps to (a) publish an equality impact assessment and (b) consult with trade unions when proposing new HR policies for their Department; and if they will make a statement.

Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)

The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) is committed to fulfilling the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) as set out in section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, by providing employees with Inclusion in the Civil Service training, and publishing guidance on the NIO intranet for employees to understand how and when to conduct an equality impact assessment.

There is no legal requirement to publish duty assessment documentation (often referred to as equality impact assessments).

However, under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, S.75 screenings are routinely published on the Departments transparency pages.

The Northern Ireland Office always seeks to work with trade unions, through meaningful consultation and engagement to help inform decision making.


Written Question
Northern Ireland Office: Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992
Thursday 2nd February 2023

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps their Department takes to comply with section 181 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992; and if they will make a statement.

Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)

There is a range of HR information which is published on GOV.UK and which is therefore publicly available.

The Northern Ireland Office shares a range of information with their recognised Trade Unions and data where it is appropriate and in line with privacy statements. This helps inform decision-making through formal negotiation and meaningful consultation and engagement.

The Northern Ireland Office is therefore complying with section 181 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 and we always seek to work constructively with trade unions to reach fair and reasonable settlements.


Written Question
Northern Ireland Office: Minimum Wage
Monday 30th January 2023

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many and what proportion of employees in their Department are paid at the rate of the National Minimum Wage.

Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)

Northern Ireland Office pay is in line with Civil Service pay principles and Ministry of Justice policy. There are no employees in the Northern Ireland Office currently paid at the rate of the National Minimum Wage or below. The Ministry of Justice pay deal for the current pay remit year offer to the most junior staff grade is £19,932 (Band F/AA). The most junior grade employed by the Northern Ireland Office are Band E/AO.


Written Question
Northern Ireland Office: Trade Unions
Friday 27th January 2023

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what human resources information their Department shares with trade unions on a regular basis.

Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)

The Northern Ireland Office shares relevant human resources updates and information with trade unions when required as part of ongoing engagement. There is also a range of publicly available HR information, which is published on GOV.UK.


Written Question
Northern Ireland Office: Trade Unions
Friday 24th January 2020

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment he has made of the effect of the General Data Protection Regulation on the right of recognised unions to access bargaining information in his Department in relation to section 181 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.

Answered by Julian Smith

Staff in my Department are employed under the terms and conditions of the Ministry of Justice.

The introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation has not affected the rights of unions in the Ministry of Justice in relation to bargaining information provided under section 181 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.


Written Question
Northern Ireland Office: Pay
Friday 24th January 2020

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment he has made of his Department's compliance with section 3.1.8 of the Civil Service Management Code.

Answered by Julian Smith

While my Department does not currently have any Trade Union representatives, all staff are employed under the terms and conditions of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and staff have access to the services of Trade Unions in the MoJ. My Department is aware that it has an obligation to provide reasonable paid time off to recognised trade union representatives to undertake trade union duties. This includes paid time off to Health and Safety representatives as set out in section 3.1.8 of the Civil Service Management Code.

The MoJ, in line with the legislative obligation set out in the Trade Union Act (2016), annually publishes information relating to facility time for relevant union officials. Facility time is defined by the Act as including time off taken by a relevant union official that is permitted by the official’s employer, including under “regulations made under section 2(4) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974”.

The Government recognises there are significant benefits to both employers and employees when organisations and unions work together effectively to deliver high quality public services, but facility time within the public sector must be accountable and represent value for money.


Written Question
Northern Ireland Office: Brexit
Monday 14th January 2019

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what estimate she has made of the additional staff required by her Department in the event that the UK leaves the EU (a) with and (b) without a deal.

Answered by John Penrose

EU exit affects a number of work areas across the Department and will therefore encompass a proportion of workload for many staff, the amount of which will vary over time. The Department has restructured its approach to the way it handles EU exit work, moving from an initial central EU exit co-ordinating team of 7 to the current position where EU exit work is distributed widely across the whole department. Many of the same staff spend a proportion of their time preparing for leaving the EU (a) with and (b) without a deal. Those proportions vary continuously over time. As such it is difficult to quantify the number of staff working on preparing for the UK to leave the EU under any one possible scenario.


Written Question
Northern Ireland Office: Staff
Tuesday 8th January 2019

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many staff were employed in her Department on (a) 20 December 2018 and (b) 23 June 2016.

Answered by Karen Bradley

On 20 December 2018, there were 165 staff working in my Department. In July 2016, (the nearest date we have for June staff numbers), there were 115 staff working in my department.


Written Question
Northern Ireland Office: Universal Credit
Wednesday 24th October 2018

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what estimate she has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of staff employed by her Department in receipt of universal credit; and if she will make a statement.

Answered by Shailesh Vara

The Northern Ireland Office does not record or collate information on staff in receipt of Universal Credit.