§ Mr. TrimbleTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list all the persons and firms engaged as consultants by the Fair Employment Commission.
§ Mr. AncramThe firms and persons engaged as consultants by the Fair Employment Commission from 1 January 1990 to date were:
- BIS Beecom (now Parity Solutions Ltd.)
- F. Cassidy
- R. J. Cormac
- A. M. Gallagher
- Gilpin Black
- J. M. D. Kremer
- Market Research N I
- A. Murphy
- Northern Ireland Economic Research Centre
- R. D. Osborne
- Psychometric Research and Development
- Research and Evaluation Services
- M. Rubenstein
- Septembers McConnell
- Ulster Marketing Services
In addition, the commission administered, on behalf of the Department of Economic Development, the small firms fair employment scheme, under which companies obtained free consultancy advice on fair employment procedures. This scheme ceased to operate on 31 March 1993. During the life of the scheme, 58 consultants undertook assignments for small companies.
§ Mr. TrimbleTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if it is the practice of the Fair Employment Commission to notify any consultants of forthcoming investigations.
§ Mr. AncramThe Fair Employment Commission does not notify consultants of forthcoming investigations.
§ Mr. TrimbleTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland by what means notice is given by the Fair Employment Commission(a) to the firms concerned, (b) to other bodies and (c) to the public of forthcoming investigations.
§ Mr. AncramThe conduct of investigations under section 11 of the Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Act 1989 is governed by paragraph 2 of schedule 9 of the legislation.
Before holding an investigation, the commission serves notice of its intention to hold the investigation and furnishes particulars of the scope and purpose of the investigation in a formal letter to the party concerned.
It is not the policy of the commission to provide notice of forthcoming investigations to any other body.
The public is provided with general information on the commission's investigation activities in its annual report. The names of concerns under investigation are not released until the investigation is complete and the report published.
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