How many Assembly Commission staff have been furloughed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to date and how does this compare to the Assembly’s workforce in terms of number and percentage, providing the actual number of staff in addition to full time equivalents?
Y Llywydd, Elin Jones AM on behalf of the Assembly Commission:
No Assembly Commission staff have been furloughed under the Coronavirus Job Retention scheme to date and there is no intention to do so.
The Commission is following UK Government advice. This will be kept under review. An extract from guidance issued by HMRC is as follows:
The government expects that the scheme will not be used by many public sector organisations, as the majority of public sector employees are continuing to provide essential public services or contribute to the response to the coronavirus outbreak. Where employers receive public funding for staff costs, and that funding is continuing, we expect employers to use that money to continue to pay staff in the usual fashion – and correspondingly not furlough them.