To ask the Assembly Commission to provide an update on maternity provision for MLAs.

Mr Clarke

I thank the Members for their questions. The Assembly Commission has had a number of discussions on the matter. It is important to make Members aware that the Assembly Commission's remit relates solely to the provision of allowances to enable Members to exercise their functions as Members. The Assembly Commission has the ability to provide additional support to a Member who is absent due to parental leave to carry out the constituency work that a Member would otherwise have undertaken. Additional support could be made available to assist with constituency work through an increase to the staffing costs that are made available to a Member under the provisions of the Assembly Members (Salaries and Expenses) Determination (Northern Ireland) 2016. Any such change to facilitate paid support for Members on parental leave could be made by the Assembly Commission through the publication of a revised determination. The former Assembly Commission considered the matter in detail at its meeting on 9 February 2022 and agreed a set of principles for additional financial support. However, it was also agreed that a revised determination to provide the additional financial support should only be published once progress is made at the start of this Assembly mandate on a Bill to reform the functions of the independent financial review panel. The Assembly Commission therefore intends to return to the matter once progress on the Bill has been made. The Bill is on the agenda for this afternoon's Commission meeting. The Assembly Commission is also aware that there are likely to be issues related to a Member's work here in Parliament Buildings arising from periods of maternity or paternity leave, adoption leave or shared parental leave. There is very limited provision for Members' absences in Standing Orders as regards, for example, participating in debates or voting. Procedural matters would, in the first instance, be for the Committee on Procedures. Such issues are not within the responsibility of the Assembly Commission. For instance, any proposal to allow a replacement Member to be put in place to cover for a period of parental leave would require a change to the 1998 Act, which is outside the remit of the Assembly Commission. The Assembly Commission has no role in determining the salaries or pensions payable to Members. However, it should be noted that the salary of a Member is not reduced as a result of them deciding to take parental leave.

Ms Hunter

I thank the member of the Commission for his answer. Does he agree that the lack of maternity leave for Members can put young women off getting into politics? Will the Commission consider looking at other strategies such as those used in Westminster and provide additional moneys for women who need maternity leave?

Mr Clarke

As you will have gathered from my previous response, Commission members previously considered all those points, and they see merit in what has been put forward today. All those things will be considered going forward.

Mrs Erskine

I thank the Commission member for the answer. Last week, we had International Women's Day, and we debated women in politics and increasing the number of them. Has the Commission ever reached out to women MLAs who have had children — quite a few are having children — to see what facilities they may need and what may be needed in the future?

Mr Clarke

I thank the Member for the question. I am not aware of any specific time that the Commission has written to Members who have had children, but I am sure that Commission members are listening today, taking that on board and will follow up on it.

Mr Clarke

I am happy to take the Member's view on board and ask the Assembly Commission to consider it for a response.

Madam Principal Deputy Speaker

Question 8 has already been answered, so we will move on to question 9.