The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature for Northern Ireland. We are responsible for making laws on transferred matters and for scrutinising the work of Ministers and Government departments.
Learn more about the history of the Assembly.
The Assembly is overseen by the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission, which ensures that the Assembly has all the services, staff and structures to function. The staff employed by the Assembly Commission are called the Assembly Secretariat. The Secretariat is divided into:
If you prefer, a text description of our organisational structure is available by expanding the link below:
The role of the Clerk/Chief Executive comprises three important elements.
First, as Clerk she is responsible for the provision of procedural advice to the Speaker and Members of the Assembly.
Secondly, as Chief Executive she is responsible to the Assembly Commission for the management of the administrative support services to the Assembly.
Thirdly, the Clerk/Chief Executive is the Accounting Officer for the Assembly’s budget.
The Corporate Support Unit is comprised of the Commission / Chief Executive’s Office and the Speaker’s Office.
Commission and Clerk / Chief Executive’s Office
The Commission and Clerk / Chief Executive’s Office is responsible for supporting the Clerk/ Chief Executive in her work, providing advice and support to the members of the Assembly Commission and supporting the meetings of the Assembly Commission and Secretariat Management Group.
Office of the Speaker
The Speaker’s Office is responsible for supporting the Speaker and Deputy Speakers in their procedural responsibilities towards the Assembly as well as supporting the Speaker to fulfil his/her statutory duties and his/her corporate role as Chair of the Assembly Commission. Additionally, the Office manages the representational functions of the Speaker including leading the Assembly on keynote and civic occasions, engaging with the wider community and representing the Assembly in contacts with other regions and parliaments.
The Corporate Services Unit is comprised of:
Finance Office
The Finance Office is responsible for the following functions of the NI Assembly:
Human Resources Office
The role of the Human Resources Office is to support the delivery of the Assembly Commission’s Corporate Strategy through the provision of high quality HR services.
The Office provides a wide range of HR services to support the Assembly Secretariat including:
At a strategic level, the Human Resources Office is responsible for advising and guiding senior management on organisational change and development and for leading on specific corporate projects.
Equality Unit
The Equality and Good Relations Unit provides support for the Assembly Commission to ensure it is compliant with all the statutory requirements of section 75(1&2) of the Northern Ireland Act and section 49A of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
Section 75 compliance:
Disability Discrimination Act compliance:
Building Services (including Support Services)
Building Services Branch is responsible for all accommodation and associated services, some of which are:
Building Services Branch provides a proactive service to Members and all those who work in the building. Building Services Branch also liaises with outside agencies in respect of maintenance and works.
Usher Services
The key roles and responsibilities of Usher Services include:
The Parliamentary Services Directorate is made up of the following business services:
Bill Office and Committees
Role of the Bill Office
The Bill Office supports the work of the Assembly in its consideration of primary legislation by preparing and arranging the publication of all primary legislative documents; and by providing information and advice on the primary legislative process to the Speaker, Members, Assembly Officials, Departments and others.
The Bill Office is responsible for:
Standing Committees
The Northern Ireland Act 1998 and Assembly Standing Orders numbers 51, 52 and 54 to 59 provide for the establishment of standing committees.
Standing committees are permanent committees of the Assembly and have specific roles assigned to them within Standing Orders.
Statutory Committees
Section 29(1)(a) of the Northern Ireland Act (1998) requires that Standing Orders ‘make provision for establishing committees of Members of the Assembly (statutory committees) to advise and assist each Northern Ireland minister in the formulation of policy with respect to matters within his/her responsibilities as a minister’.
Business Office
The Business Office exists to support plenary meetings of the Assembly, to provide procedural advice to the Speaker and Members and to maintain the legal record of the Assembly’s proceedings. In all matters of business or procedure the Business Office operates in accordance with the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and Standing Orders, guided further by Speakers’ rulings.
In this context it is responsible for the:
Communications Office
The Communications Office provides information about the work of the Assembly to the media, public, government departments, and other key stakeholders. The Communications Office is at the centre of the strategy for engaging the wider public in the life of the Assembly.
We work with the local, national, and international media, managing media access and accommodation at Parliament Buildings, manage the Assembly’s website, social media and other online services, and oversee the Assembly’s broadcasting and advertising needs.
Official Report and Public Engagement
This business area is made up of four distinct offices, namely the Official Report (Hansard), the Events Office, the Education Service and the Outreach and Engagement Office.
The Official Report (Hansard)
The Official Report (Hansard) does exactly what its name suggests — it produces the official reports (an official report is essentially a transcript) for all sittings of the Assembly and most of the Assembly’s Committee meetings.
The Events Office
Staff in the Events Office are responsible for organising and managing a wide variety of events that take place in Parliament Buildings, including corporate events and weddings/receptions, and also manage and provide a programme of public and private tours.
The Education Service
The Education Service develops and delivers a range of educational programmes and events (both in Parliament Buildings and externally) aimed largely, but not exclusively, at young people and teachers to raise awareness and understanding of the work of the Assembly, and it also has its own dedicated website.
The Outreach and Engagement Office also delivers a range of events, programmes and visits aimed increasing awareness and understanding of, and participation in, the work of the Assembly and also looks after the Assembly’s various inter-parliamentary activities and relationships, for example membership of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly
Information Systems
Information Systems Office (ISO) provides the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) systems and services to support the business of the Assembly.
There are at present fifteen staff in the ISO team supporting 650+ users including Assembly Members, their staff (including staff in Constituency Offices), Party support staff and Assembly Secretariat staff.
Staff are predominantly Information Systems (IS) and Information Technology (IT) specialists and there are a small number of administrative staff.
The Legal, Governance and Research Services Directorate is made up of the following business services:
Legal Services
The Legal Services Office supports the Director of Legal, Governance and Research Services, who is Counsel to the Speaker. The Office provides legal advice directly to the Clerk, the Speaker and his/her deputies, the Assembly Commission, committees, and the Secretariat on a broad range of issues, including:
Examiner of Statutory Rules / Information Standards
Examiner of Statutory Rules
Under the Standing Orders of the Assembly, the Examiner of Statutory Rules carries out technical scrutiny of subordinate legislation where delegated to do so by the Committees of the Assembly reporting to the Committees and the Assembly.
Information Standards
The Information Standards Office is responsible for the following functions –
Research and Information Service
The Research and Information Service (RaISe) provides the Northern Ireland Assembly with impartial, objective, timely and non-partisan information and research.
Our support services consist of two, interlinked components: Library and Research.
Library
The Library maintains a collection of hard copy and electronic publications to support the work of the Assembly in subject areas such as government and politics, public administration and social policy, constitutional law and the history of Northern Ireland.
The Library team assist MLAs and Assembly staff in sourcing additional publications, where resources allow, as well as conducting fact-finding, literature searches and legislation tracking.
Plenary debates are supported through Library produced Information Packs on Private Members’ Motions and selected Committee Motions.
The Library is also responsible for Deposited Papers, which are unpublished papers placed in the Library at the direction of the Speaker or a Minister in the Executive
Research
Four teams of research specialists support MLAs and Assembly Committeesin their work scrutinising the Executive, proposing legislation, and supporting constituents. Together, the four research teams provide the following services:
Internal Audit Unit and Governance Officer
The purpose of the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission’s (“the Assembly Commission’s”) Internal Audit Unit is to provide independent, objective assurance and control-related consulting services designed to add value and improve the organisation’s operations.
The mission of internal audit is to enhance and protect organisational value by providing risk-based and objective assurance, advice and insight. The Internal Audit Unit helps the organisation accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of governance, risk management, and control processes.
The scope of internal audit activities encompasses, but is not limited to, objective examinations of evidence for the purpose of providing independent assessments to the Accounting Officer, the Secretariat Management Group (SMG), the Secretariat Audit & Risk Committee (SARC) and management on the adequacy and effectiveness of governance, risk management, and control processes. Internal audit assessments include evaluating whether:
The work of the Unit is directed by a risk-based annual plan approved by SMG and endorsed by SARC. In addition to planned risk-based audit engagements, Internal Audit may be required to conduct special reviews, e.g. under the terms of the Fraud Prevention and Anti-Bribery Response Plan.
Governance Officer
The primary purpose of the Governance Officer is to actively support and advise the Clerk/ Chief Executive and the Director of Legal, Governance & Research Services in carrying out governance duties.
The Governance Officer maintains and develops the Assembly Commission’s Corporate Governance Framework and Risk Management Strategy, timetabling and coordinating key governance tasks throughout the year, providing secretarial support to the Secretariat Audit and Risk Committee (“SARC”), coordinating stewardship statements, facilitating the necessary reviews of Directorate Risk Registers and the Corporate Risk Register.
Procurement Office
The Procurement Office provides professional purchasing expertise, including advice and direction on good (procurement) practice, to ensure propriety, efficiency, best value and compliance with legal obligations including:
Directorates and offices have delegated authority, under the Procurement Procedures, for procurements up to £30,000 in value.
If you have difficulty viewing the interactive chart above on your mobile device, a text description of our organisational structure is available by expanding the link below:
The role of the Clerk/Chief Executive, Leslie Hogg, comprises three important elements:
To assist with these duties, the Clerk/Chief Executive oversees four directorates – Corporate Support Unit, Corporate Services, Parliamentary Services and Legal, Governance and Research Services.
The Corporate Support Unit is comprised of the Commission / Chief Executive’s Office and the Speaker’s Office.
Commission and Clerk / Chief Executive’s Office
The Assembly Commission and Clerk/Chief Executive’s Office currently provides the following main functions:
Role of Office:
Support to the Assembly Commission: Support the Assembly Commission in carrying out its functions as outlined under section 40 of the Northern Ireland Act.
In particular:
Corporate Support:
In particular:
Office of the Speaker
The Office of the Speaker exists to provide high quality, efficient and effective support to the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Deputy Speakers in the execution of their statutory and non-statutory duties and to act as a communications channel between the Speaker, Assembly Members, the Secretariat and external contacts.
The Office of the Speaker aids the Speaker in their procedural, corporate and representational roles.
Procedural Role:
Corporate Role:
Representational Role:
The Corporate Services Unit is comprised of:
Finance Office
The Finance Office is responsible for the following functions of the NI Assembly:
Human Resources Office
The role of the Human Resources Office is to support the delivery of the Assembly Commission’s Corporate Strategy through the provision of high quality HR services.
The Office provides a wide range of HR services to support the Assembly Secretariat including:
At a strategic level, the Human Resources Office is responsible for advising and guiding senior management on organisational change and development and for leading on specific corporate projects.
Equality Unit
The Equality and Good Relations Unit provides support for the Assembly Commission to ensure it is compliant with all the statutory requirements of section 75(1&2) of the Northern Ireland Act and section 49A of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
Section 75 compliance:
Disability Discrimination Act compliance:
Building Services (including Support Services)
Building Services Branch is responsible for all accommodation and associated services, some of which are:
Building Services Branch provides a proactive service to Members and all those who work in the building. Building Services Branch also liaises with outside agencies in respect of maintenance and works.
Usher Services
The key roles and responsibilities of Usher Services include:
The Parliamentary Services Directorate plays a key role in relation to:
Bill Office and Committees
Role of the Bill Office
The Bill Office supports the work of the Assembly in its consideration of primary legislation by preparing and arranging the publication of all primary legislative documents; and by providing information and advice on the primary legislative process to the Speaker, Members, Assembly Officials, Departments and others.
The Bill Office is responsible for:
Standing Committees
The Northern Ireland Act 1998 and Assembly Standing Orders numbers 51, 52 and 54 to 59 provide for the establishment of standing committees.
Standing committees are permanent committees of the Assembly and have specific roles assigned to them within Standing Orders.
Statutory Committees
Section 29(1)(a) of the Northern Ireland Act (1998) requires that Standing Orders ‘make provision for establishing committees of Members of the Assembly (statutory committees) to advise and assist each Northern Ireland minister in the formulation of policy with respect to matters within his/her responsibilities as a minister’.
Business Office
The Business Office exists to support plenary meetings of the Assembly, to provide procedural advice to the Speaker and Members and to maintain the legal record of the Assembly’s proceedings. In all matters of business or procedure the Business Office operates in accordance with the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and Standing Orders, guided further by Speakers’ rulings.
In this context it is responsible for the:
Communications Office
The Communications Office provides information about the work of the Assembly to the media, public, government departments, and other key stakeholders. The Communications Office is at the centre of the strategy for engaging the wider public in the life of the Assembly.
We work with the local, national, and international media, managing media access and accommodation at Parliament Buildings, manage the Assembly’s website, social media and other online services, and oversee the Assembly’s broadcasting and advertising needs.
Official Report and Public Engagement
The Office does exactly what its name suggests — it produces a full Official Report for all sittings of the Northern Ireland Assembly and most of the Assembly’s Committee meetings.
The Official Report is essentially a transcript detailing everything that was said and done. On days when the Assembly sits, the report is published on the Assembly website on a rolling basis during the day. Generally, the complete report of each day’s sitting will be available around two hours after the business is finished. Reports of Committee meetings are also published on the Assembly website, but within three working days of the relevant meeting, not necessarily the same day.
Information Systems
Information Systems Office (ISO) provides the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) systems and services to support the business of the Assembly.
There are at present fifteen staff in the ISO team supporting 650+ users including Assembly Members, their staff (including staff in Constituency Offices), Party support staff and Assembly Secretariat staff.
Staff are predominantly Information Systems (IS) and Information Technology (IT) specialists and there are a small number of administrative staff.
The Legal, Governance and Research Services Directorate is made up of the following business services:
Legal Services
The Legal Services Office supports the Director of Legal, Governance and Research Services, who is Counsel to the Speaker. The Office provides legal advice directly to the Clerk, the Speaker and his deputies, the Assembly Commission, committees, and the Secretariat on a broad range of issues, including:
Examiner of Statutory Rules / Information Standards
Examiner of Statutory Rules
Under the Standing Orders of the Assembly, the Examiner of Statutory Rules carries out technical scrutiny of subordinate legislation where delegated to do so by the Committees of the Assembly reporting to the Committees and the Assembly.
Information Standards
The Information Standards office is responsible for information standards and governance across the Secretariat. This includes freedom of information, data protection, records management and information assurance.
Research and Information Service
RaISe aims to meet the information needs of the Assembly Members, their staff and the secretariat. The service employs subject specialists and library professionals to provide research and information support across the range of Assembly business areas.
Internal Audit Unit and Governance Officer
The purpose of the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission’s (“the Assembly Commission’s”) Internal Audit Unit is to provide independent, objective assurance and control-related consulting services designed to add value and improve the organisation’s operations.
The mission of internal audit is to enhance and protect organisational value by providing risk-based and objective assurance, advice and insight. The Internal Audit Unit helps the organisation accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of governance, risk management, and control processes.
The scope of internal audit activities encompasses, but is not limited to, objective examinations of evidence for the purpose of providing independent assessments to the Accounting Officer, the Secretariat Management Group (SMG), the Secretariat Audit & Risk Committee (SARC) and management on the adequacy and effectiveness of governance, risk management, and control processes. Internal audit assessments include evaluating whether:
The work of the Unit is directed by a risk-based annual plan approved by SMG and endorsed by SARC. In addition to planned risk-based audit engagements, Internal Audit may be required to conduct special reviews, e.g. under the terms of the Fraud Prevention and Anti-Bribery Response Plan.
The Governance Officer (AG6) sits within the Legal, Governance and Research Services Directorate and reports to the Director.
The primary purpose of the Governance Officer is to actively support and advise the Clerk/ Chief Executive and the Director of Legal, Governance & Research Services in carrying out governance duties.
The Governance Officer maintains and develops the Assembly Commission’s Corporate Governance Framework and Risk Management Strategy, timetabling and coordinating key governance tasks throughout the year, providing secretarial support to the Secretariat Audit and Risk Committee (“SARC”), coordinating stewardship statements, facilitating the necessary reviews of Directorate Risk Registers and the Corporate Risk Register.
Procurement Office
The Procurement Office provides professional purchasing expertise, including advice and direction on good (procurement) practice, to ensure propriety, efficiency, best value and compliance with legal obligations including:
Directorates and offices have delegated authority, under the Procurement Procedures, for procurements up to £30,000 in value.
The Assembly’s Education Service and Communications Office has produced a number of videos that help illustrate the work of the Assembly and provide background information on how MLAs are elected and how the Assembly has performed in previous mandates. Watch the videos to gain a further insight into life in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The Education Service has its own dedicated website which is a valuable resource for digestible information and video suite on the Assembly and how it operates – http://education.niassembly.gov.uk/
If you prefer, a text description of our management structure is available by expanding the link below:
The Northern Ireland Assembly Management Structure is as follows:
Northern Ireland Assembly
Parliament Buildings
Ballymiscaw
Stormont
Belfast
BT4 3XX