Debate contribution: Assembly Commission Staff: Family- and Carer-friendly Working
Debate contribution by Mr Trevor Clarke on .
- MLA
- Mr Trevor Clarke
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 24 June 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Assembly Commission Staff: Family- and Carer-friendly Working
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5046924
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member for the question. The Assembly Commission recognises the importance of a family- and carer-friendly working environment, as it contributes to a healthier, more engaged and more productive workforce. The Assembly Commission's employees can avail themselves of a number of policies, including a hybrid working policy that offers staff the opportunity to work from home where possible, carefully balanced against the realities of business need and the importance of colleagues being together for strong team dynamics. The balance between working in Parliament Buildings and working at home varies depending on the post held, business needs and the staff member's preference. The staff hours at work policy affords staff members the opportunity to accrue additional time worked that can be taken during recess or when business is quieter. The flexible working and partial retirement policy allows staff to adjust their working pattern either permanently or temporarily. The support for carers policy sets out the support available to staff with caring responsibilities. The special leave policy gives staff the statutory right to time off for the care of dependants. Although the statutory right is to unpaid time off, the Assembly Commission may, in certain circumstances, give staff a limited amount of paid time off work. In addition, the policy provides for non-statutory time off for domestic reasons. The parental leave policy enables an eligible staff member to take a set period of unpaid leave from work to care for a child. The shared parental leave policy sets out the rights of staff members to take shared parental leave. Finally, the annual leave policy makes provision for the carry-over of annual leave, which may assist staff who are aware that they will need a long period of annual leave during the following year for caring purposes.
296 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.02 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.01 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.42 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.02 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.77 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.09 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.08 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.04 |
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 0.02 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:53 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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