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The pay bands and pay ranges for special advisers for 2006-07 are as follows:
Scheme Ceiling: £136,500
Pay Band 4: £84,000 to £100,900
Pay Band 3 and Premium: £62,800 to £97,500
Pay Band 2: £49,300 to £65,400
Pay Band 1: £38,100 to £51,100
Pay Band 0: Up to £38,100
At 24 July 2006, the number of special advisers in each pay band by department is as follows:
The cost of special advisers in 2005-2006 was £5.9 million(1)
(1 )This figure includes salary, severance pay and estimate of pension costs.
The Prime Minister (Mr. Tony Blair): I have today placed the House of Lords Appointments Commission Annual Report for 2004-05 and 2005-06 in the Libraries of both Houses. I am grateful to the members of the Commission for the report and their valuable work.
The Prime Minister (Mr. Tony Blair): I have today published the eighth report of the independent Advisory Committee on Business Appointments. The report provides an account of the work of the Committee in advising former Ministers and Crown servants on the acceptance of appointments after leaving Crown service. The report covers the period 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2006. Copies of the report have been placed in the Libraries of the House. I am grateful to the Chairman, Lord Mayhew of Twysden, and to the members of the Committee for giving their time and expertise so generously.
The Solicitor-General (Mr. Mike O'Brien): I have today placed in the Library of the House copies of the first Annual Report of the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland and of its business plan for the coming year.
While the new Service was formally launched in June 2005 it initially only took work from the six police districts that make up the PPS Belfast region. It has, however, been planned from the start as a regional service and the last year has seen good progress in rolling out the Service over the whole of Northern Ireland.
In August 2005 the PPS western and southern region assumed responsibility for the conduct of all youth offences occurring in the Police Service of Northern Irelands Armagh, Banbridge and Newry and Mourne districts as well as all prosecutions from the five police districts within Fermanagh and Tyrone. A new Lisburn office, serving as headquarters of the PPS eastern region opened in March 2006 and will be fully operational by October of this year when it will add a further six police districts to those already within the PPS structure.
The roll out of the PPS will continue through this year and next and when completed will operate from six regional offices planned for Belfast, Lisburn, Newry, Omagh, Londonderry and Ballymena. This regional approach, with each office having its own regional prosecutor, will encourage local involvement with the service, helping the community understand its work and how it goes about reaching decisions and thereby building public confidence in the criminal justice system. The annual report and business plan is part of this process and will be of interest to anyone with an interest in the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland or in criminal justice generally.
The Minister for Industry and the Regions (Margaret Hodge): The overall payment performance of Government is 96.87 per cent. Figures for the financial year 2005-06 show that there has been a slight fall compared to last years figure of 97.09 per cent. Some 54 per cent of Departments improved on their performance of last year.
Government Departments and their agencies are required to monitor their payment performance and to publish the results in their Departmental or annual reports. The table lists, by Department, the proportion of bills paid within 30 days, or other agreed credit period, on receipt of a valid invoice.
The Government take this issue very seriously, and are committed to improving the payment culture in the UK, in order to create fair and stable business transactions. The Governments own payment performance is an important element in this policy.
Main Departments 2005-06 | Paid on Time % |
Department for Constitutional Affairs (Lord Chancellor's Department) | |
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