Lord Empey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2016-04-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure the effective operation of the electoral office of Northern Ireland following the decision by the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance to ballot its members in the electoral office on strike action following the decision to close six electoral branch offices.

Lord Dunlop

The delivery of elections is an operational matter for the Chief Electoral Officer.

It is disappointing that the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance has decided to ballot its members in Area Electoral Offices for industrial action. While two Area Electoral Offices are due to close in October with staff relocating to other offices, no decision has been taken on others. This action is hard to justify in advance of final decisions on wider reform which will only be taken following consideration of responses to a consultation later in the year.