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3 Mar 2009 : Column 1500W—continued


3 Mar 2009 : Column 1501W

Departmental Art Works

Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which works of art from the Government Art Collection each Minister in his Department has selected for display in a private office. [259441]

Mr. Straw: I and Ministers in my Department, have a number of pieces of artwork from the Government Art Collection on display in private offices, the detail of which are as follows:

The Rt. Hon. Jack Straw MP

The Rt. Hon. David Hanson MP

Maria Eagle MP

The Rt. Hon . Michael Wills MP

Bridget Prentice MP

Lord Bach

Shahid Malik MP


3 Mar 2009 : Column 1502W

Departmental Pay

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department has allocated for staff bonuses in 2008-09. [252252]

Mr. Straw: ‘Year end’ non-consolidated performance payments are paid to high performing members of the senior civil service (SCS) to reflect their individual contribution during the previous performance year. In the 2008-09 financial year £1,648,000 was paid to SCS staff.

Within the Ministry of Justice there are different methods of reward for former DCA staff and staff in the National Offender Management Service (NOMS).

Payment of non-consolidated pay to former DCA staff below the SCS level may be either ‘year end’ or ‘in year’ performance payments. ‘Year end’ performance payments are paid only to staff who achieve the highest possible performance marking for the previous reporting year, which runs from 1 April to 31 March. The amount of ‘year end’ payments made in August 2008 to staff in the former DCA was £2,011,200.

‘In year’ payments are made, at local management discretion, to staff whose performance is exceptional as part of the Department’s recognition and reward policy.

For the former DCA, the amount allocated for the period 1 August 2007 to 31 July 2008 was 0.4 per cent. of the 2007-08 paybill of £575,514.

The amount allocated for the period 1 August 2008 to 31 July 2009 is 0.5 per cent. of the 2008- 09 paybill of £597,641.

NOMS operate a performance management system which provides for ‘year end’ performance payments and recognises outstanding performance with ‘in year’ payments. It is not possible to give a figure for the total paid in performance payments for the current financial year i.e. 2008-09. However, such payments cannot exceed 0.5 per cent. of the paybill in any unit.

Performance payments are funded within existing paybill controls, have to be re-earned each year against pre-determined targets, and, as such, do not add to future paybill costs.

Performance payments, which are non-consolidated and non-pensionable, are paid to high performing individuals as part of the Department’s reward strategy. Such payments are a cost-effective means of encouraging and rewarding high performance and drives continuous improvement throughout the organisation.

Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many bonus payments were made to (a) senior civil servants and (b) other staff working in (i) HM Courts Service, (ii) HM Prison Service, (iii) the National Offender Management Service and (iv) the Youth Justice Board in 2007-08; and how much was paid in such bonuses to people in each category. [254131]

Mr. Straw: The information requested is set out as follows:

HM Courts Service

Across the MoJ, end year non-consolidated performance payments are paid to high performing members of the senior civil service (SCS) to reflect their individual contribution during the previous reporting year. During
3 Mar 2009 : Column 1503W
2007-08, 54 members of the SCS were paid non-consolidated performance pay amounting to £383,000, in respect of performance during the 2006-07 reporting year.

Payments of non-consolidated performance pay to staff below the SCS may be either ‘end of year’ payments or ‘in year’ payments.

‘End of year’ payments of non-consolidated performance pay are made as part of the annual pay award to staff who have performed beyond expectations throughout the performance year. In HM Courts Service 1,667 staff received end of year non-consolidated performance pay during the 2007-08 financial year for performance in the 2006-07 reporting year. The amount paid was £666,800. This was paid in October 2007 at the time of the implementation of the 2007 pay award for all staff.

‘In year’ payments of non-consolidated performance pay are one-off payments to staff who have made an exceptional contribution on specific occasions. It is not possible to provide details of payments made to staff in HMCS separate from those working in other parts of the Ministry of Justice, other than at a disproportionate cost.

During the financial year 2007-08 5,327 staff in Ministry of Justice (including HMCS) received ‘in year’ non-consolidated performance pay totalling £2,665,212.

HM Prison Service

During 2007-08, 25 members of the SCS were paid non-consolidated performance pay amounting to £231,000.

Payments of non-consolidated performance pay to staff below the senior civil service may be either ‘end of year’ or ‘in year’ payments of non-consolidated performance pay.

‘End of year’ non-consolidated performance payments are made as part of the annual pay award to staff who have performed at a level beyond expectations throughout the performance year. In HM Prison Service 4,816 staff received an end of year payment of non-consolidated performance pay in the 2007-08 financial year, totalling £1,096,766.

‘In year’ non-consolidated performance payments are one-off payments to staff who have made an exceptional contribution on specific occasions. During the financial
3 Mar 2009 : Column 1504W
year 2007-08, 3,888 staff in HMPS received ‘in year’ payments totalling £1,333,039.

There were no payments of non-consolidated performance pay to any member of staff employed by local probation boards or trusts during the financial year 2007-08.

National Offender Management Service

The National Offender Management Service was established as an agency on 1 April 2008. The NOMS Agency consists of the HM Prison Service and the national probation service. The information contained in (ii) covers both of these parts of the NOMS Agency.

Youth Justice Board

During the financial year 2007-08, one member of the SCS was awarded non-consolidated performance pay of £15.000.

In grades below the SCS, 43 staff were awarded non-consolidated performance pay ‘in year’ totalling £23,350. There were 21 ‘end of year’ awards of non-consolidated performance pay to staff in relation to annual performance marking. These payments amounted to £18,090.

Departmental Public Consultation

Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many public consultations his Department has conducted in the last 12 months; how long each consultation was open for; how many responses were received in each case; and what the cost of conducting each consultation was. [259572]

Mr. Wills: The information requested is shown in the following table, which sets out details of the 37 formal written public consultations, carried out by the Ministry of Justice in the last twelve months. The printing and web publication costs of a standard consultation are met centrally by the Department. The only other cost of a standard consultation is the cost of staff time in preparing individual consultations. No breakdown exists for these costs and to provide one would incur disproportionate cost. But where activity over and above a standard consultation has been carried out and those cost details are available I have provided them.


3 Mar 2009 : Column 1505W

3 Mar 2009 : Column 1506W
Consultation Consultation period Number of responses Additional costs of consultation (£)

Closed consultations 2008 - 09

1. Administration and Enforcement Restriction Orders

16 January 2008 to 16 April 2008

49

(1)

2. Local authority charges for property search services

18 January 2008 to 18 April 2008

858

12,000

3. Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007—Court Rules

31 January 2008 to 24 April 2008

9

(1)

4. Tribunal, Courts and Enforcement Act: Eligibility for Judicial Appointments

5 February 2008 to 29 April 2008

13

(1)

5. Enhancing procedural rights and cooperation in the EU

28 February 2008 to 10 April 2008

11

(1)

6. Rome I—Should the UK opt in?

2 April 2008 to 25 June 2008

37

(1)

7. Best value in probation

9 April 2008 to 2 July 2008

73

9,500

8. Children and Adoption Act 2006—Court Rules

7 May 2008 to 20 June 2008

25

(1)

9. Certificates of professional competence—amendments to the Transport Tribunal Rules 2008

28 May 2008 to 9 July 2008

2

(1)

10. Titan prisons

5 June 2008 to 28 August 2008.

74

1,210

11. Bail and murder

17 June 2008 to 12 September 2008

30

(1)

12. Reforming the Legal Aid Family Barrister Fee Scheme

18 June 2008 to 10 September 2008

19

(1)

13. Election Day—Weekend voting

24 June 2008 to 26 September 2008

941

6,153.95

14. Pleural plaques

9 July2008 to 1 September 2008

224

(1)

15. Inspection powers and funding arrangements for the Information Commissioner

17 July 2008 to 27 August 2008

72

(1)

16. Pandemic Influenza

23 July 2008 to 3 September 2008

24

(1)

17. Proposal to close Nelson County Court

28 July 2008 to 20 October 2008

11

(1)

18. Murder, manslaughter and infanticide: Proposals for reform of the Law

28 July 2008 to 20 October 2008

74

10,254

19. Claims management regulation: Fee

4 August 2008 to 28 October 2008

3

(1)

20. Section 57 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act—draft regulations

26 August 2008 to 18 November 2008

3

(1)

21. Civil Procedures Rules: Cost capping orders

12 September 2008 to 24 October 2008

64

(1)

22. Rules for mandatory polygraph tests for sex offenders

19 September 2008 to 21 November 2008

7

300

23. The future of Camden and Islington Youth Work

5 September 2008 to28 November 2008

20

(1)

24. Pandemic flu—Planning guidance for Agencies and others in the Justice System

5 September 2008 to28 November 2008

16

(1)

25. Reducing re-offending in London

8 October 2008 to 30 January 2009

(2)

13,995.26

26. Reviewing the Mental Capacity Act 2005: Forms supervision and fees

23 October 2008 to 15 January 2009

76

6,300

27. Old enough to make a Mark? Should the voting age be lowered to 16?

20 October 2008 to 20 January 2009

500

(1)

28. Publication of Candidate's addresses at UK parliamentary Elections

26 November 2008 to28 January 2009

65

(1)

29. Crown court means testing

6 November 2008 to29 January 2009

49

(1)

30. The award of costs from central funds in criminal cases

6 November 2008 to 29 January

96

(1)

31. Proposed closure of Telford Hearing Centre

10 November 2008 to8 February 2009

10

643.69

Open consultations:

32. Proposed Closure of Social Security and Child Support Agency Hearing Centre Portsmouth

1 December 2008 to28 February 2009

(3)

(1)

33. Civil court fees 2008

10 December 2008 to4 March 2009

(3)

(1)

34. Proposal to merge the Dudley and Stourbridge and Halesowen Local Justice Areas

19 January 2009 to 13 April 2009

(3)

(1)

35. Proposed Merger of the Warley and West Bromwich Local Justice Areas

27 January 2009 to 21 April 2009

(3)

(1)

36. Fees in the United Kingdom Supreme court

10 February 2009 to 5 May 2009

(3)

(1)

37. Controlling costs in defamation proceedings

24 February 2009 to 6 May 2009

(3)

(1)

(1) Standard consultation.
(2) 49 to the paper155 plus through workshops and stakeholder events.
(3) Not yet available.

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