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10 Sep 2008 : Column 1812W—continued

	2008
£00.000	January	February	March	April	May	June	July	Total
Band B1	0.39	0.48	0.40	0.53	0.53	0.56	0.65	5.50
Band B2	0.66	0.95	0.96	1.23	0.97	1.10	1.03	11.24
Band C1	1.84	2.18	2.41	3.08	2.65	2.97	2.72	29.81
Band C2	2.52	3.30	3.21	3.79	3.79	3.87	3.31	38.62
Band D	3.47	4.26	4.32	5.21	4.17	5.68	4.64	52.37
Band El	3.19	2.71	2.67	3.78	2.77	3.61	3.01	36.07
Band E2	7.01	3.45	3.02	6.03	3.71	5.26	4.01	50.35
Skill zone 1	1.53	1.29	1.24	2.09	1.52	1.96	1.84	18.55
Skill zone 2	4.40	5.59	5.28	6.29	5.21	6.29	5.79	68.52
Skill zone 3	5.37	5.61	5.69	6.49	5.26	7.23	5.98	69.87
Skill zone 4	0.44	0.40	0.40	0.46	0.37	0.50	0.43	5.16
Other grades	16.42	14.25	13.32	20.21	17.60	18.31	19.97	203.26

These figures exclude trading fund agencies. (Figures include certain weekend premium payments relating to shift patterns as well as overtime, as these cannot readily be distinguished.)

Departmental Pay

Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what bonuses were paid to senior civil servants in his Department in 2007-08; [218510]

(2) what proportion of bonus payments to senior civil servants in 2007-08 was paid to officials in his Department; and if he will make a statement; [218511]

(3) how many senior civil servants in his Department are eligible for bonus payments in 2007-08; and how much is Department paid in bonus payments in that year. [218512]

Derek Twigg: We are not yet in a position to provide the information requested as this year’s Senior Civil Service Pay Committee process for 2007-08 is not yet complete. I will write to the hon. Member when the information is available.

Substantive answer from Derek Twigg to Andrew M u rrison:

I undertook to write to you in my answer to your question of 14 July 2008, Official Report, column 168W about bonuses paid to Senior Civil Servants.

It might be helpful if I begin by explaining the basis on which any MOD Civil Servant may be awarded a bonus. It is a key element of the Government's pay policy that a proportion of the pay of Civil Servants is performance related. MOD meets this requirement by awarding one off, non-consolidated and non-pensionable bonuses which very clearly reward performance in any given year rather than by increasing base pay which has a consolidated on-going effect even if performance later tails off. In
10 Sep 2008 : Column 1813W
turning specifically to bonuses for Senior Civil Servants, the policy framework for awarding them to members of the Senior Civil Service is set by the Cabinet Office. MOD is responsible for implementing its own pay and bonus arrangements within this framework through an agreed pay strategy. Any bonus award is based on a judgment of how well an individual has performed against their peers and they are awarded to those individuals judged to have made the highest in-year contribution to MOD business objectives. There is no restriction on the nature of the contribution; the only requirement is that it benefits the Department or Defence more widely. Recommendations for bonuses—which are considered by moderation committees—must be linked to demonstrable evidence of delivery. Up to 70 per cent. of staff may receive a bonus and only 10 per cent. of those assessed as making the greatest contribution may receive a high category bonus.

Specifically, for reporting year 2007-08, the following amounts were available for Pay Bands 1, 2 and 3 and are shown under the permissible percentage of staff able to receive that level of award:

£
SCS pay band	Related bonus awards
	High 10%	Upper Medium 15%	Middle Medium 25%	Lower Medium 15%	Half Lower Medium 5%
1	12,000	9,000	7,000	5,600	2,800
2	16,500	12,500	9,500	8,000	4,000
3	22,500	17,000	13,000	10,000	—

For 2007-08 there were 266 members of the SCS in Pay Bands 1-3 who were considered for a non-consolidated bonus. Money for these awards is taken from the allowable 8.6 per cent. of the MOD'S SCS pay pot, as recommended by the Senior Salaries Review Body in their Thirtieth Report published on 17 June 2008.

Of those considered for an award, 187 individuals (i.e. 70 per cent.) were assessed by our pay committee process as meeting or exceeding the eligibility criteria and were paid something from the range of awards shown in the table. No-one was awarded the High award at Pay Band 3. Payments totalled £1.5 million which is within our allowable ceiling, and were confined to the permissible percentage spread detailed in the table.

Pay and reward for Pay Band 4/Permanent Secretaries is considered by the Permanent Secretaries' Remuneration Committee and is subject to the same rules and regulations governed by the Senior Salaries Review Body and the Cabinet Office as the rest of the SCS. The range of awards paid to them for performance in 2007-08—expressed as a percentage of individual base pay—was 1.2 per cent.—12.8 per cent. and which was within the allowable ceiling. The MOD has two permanent SCS Pay Band 4s both of whom received a bonus.

The Department also employs a number of members of the SCS on Fixed Term Appointments. These individuals are recruited to fill specific roles where the Department does not already have the skills in-house. They are employed on individual contracts which allow them a base salary and the opportunity to earn performance related bonuses specifically linked to business objectives. They are expected to deliver substantial benefits to the Department both in terms of outputs, delivering change programmes and skills transfer. As with the rest of the SCS the bonuses paid to those on Fixed Term Appointments are non-consolidated and non-pensionable. To date, for 2007-08, not all Fixed Term appointees have been assessed for performance awards. I will write further with details of these awards when the assessment exercise is complete.

Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the salary of (a) a private soldier and (b) the Permanent Under-Secretary of his Department (i) was in each year since 1997 and (ii) will be in 2009-10. [218513]

Derek Twigg: Pay rates for the Permanent Under-Secretary and a private soldier are provided as follows:

10 Sep 2008 : Column 1814W

£
	Private soldier pay range		MOD Permanent Under-Secretary salary in £5,000 bands as published in annual SSRB report appendix
From 1 April	Minimum	Maximum	From	To
2007	15,677	24,328	165,000	169,999
2006	14,323	23,535	160,000	164,999
2005	13,866	22,849	155,000	(1)159,999
2004	13,461	22,185	160,000	164,999
2003	13,045	21,638	155,000	159,999
2002	12,578	20,911	145,000	149,999
2001	12,071	20,166	135,000	149,999
2000	11,640	18,374	125,000	129,999
1999	11,111	17,553	120,000	124,999
1998	10,720	16,947	115,000	119,999
1997	10,282	16,272	100,000	104,999
(1) This band was reported in the Senior Salaries Review Body’s report as MOD PUS’ salary but it should be noted that it reflects the salary of the then new PUS appointed in November 2005. The retiring MOD PUS’ salary was in band £165,000—£169,999.

Pay rates for UK service personnel are recommended by the independent Armed Forces Pay Review Body (AFPRB). We do not yet know pay rates for 2009-10 for either the Permanent Under-Secretary or a private soldier.

Lasers

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make it his policy to ensure the development of ground-based laser defence systems as part of the UK’s counter-mortar and counter-rocket capabilities. [223224]

Des Browne: I can confirm that the Ministry of Defence continues to assess the potential of a range of technologies, including laser, to provide counter-indirect fire capability.

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