To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many bonuses were awarded to senior civil servants working at his Department and its agencies in each year between 1997 and 2006; and what the total cost of those bonuses was. (146426)

The Department for Children, Schools and Families was formed in June 2007 from parts of the former Department for Education and Skills (DfES), which was itself formed in 2001.

Information is available for all senior civil servants in the former DfES for the years 2005/06 and 2004/05, and is shown in the following table. The Department had no agencies.

There is no information available for previous years.

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many non-pensionable bonuses were awarded to members of staff in his Department in the last three years; and at what total cost. (146989)

Information for Executive Assistant to Grade 6 bonus payments received in 2006-07 is not yet available. Members of the senior civil service will not receive their bonus payments until November 2007.

For Department’s (formerly the DfES) most up to date information, I refer the hon. Member to the reply my predecessor gave on 8 November 2006, Official Report, column 1706W.