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Departmental Pay

Volume 469: debated on Tuesday 11 December 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and what proportion of his Department's staff are employed within each salary band; what the title and role of each position within each salary band is; and for each salary band what the (a) bonus structure, (b) retirement provision, (c) expenses provision, (d) total expenses incurred in each of the last 10 years, (e) average age of employee, (f) number of (i) women and (ii) men and (g) ethnic composition is. (171404)

The strength and proportion of civilian personnel employed within each salary band is shown as follows:

Strength and proportion of civilian personnel1 by grade as at 1 April 2007

Headcount

Strength

Percentage

Senior civil service and equivalent2

290

0.3

Pay Band B

2,520

2.5

Pay Band C

17,230

16.9

Pay Band D

12,430

12.2

Pay Band E

26,760

26.2

Other non-industrial

860

0.8

Industrial

13,600

13.3

Trading Fund staff

10,250

10.1

Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA)

2,360

2.3

Locally engaged civilians

15,650

15.4

Total

101,940

100

1 Data include permanent and casual personnel employed by the Department, the Royal Fleet Auxiliaries, Trading Funds and locally engaged civilians.

2 The senior civil service was formed in 1996. The totals include about 50 personnel outside the senior civil service but of equivalent grade.

3 All strengths are rounded to the nearest 10. Totals and sub-totals have been rounded separately and so may not equal the sum of their rounded parts.

Source:

DASA (Quad-Service)

The Ministry of Defence employs staff in many hundreds of different roles. I have placed in the Library of the House a complete list of the departmental grades, job families and job codes.

(a) Staff in the non-industrial broader banded groups and industrial skill zones (excluding Trading Funds) are eligible to receive end of year bonus awards based on relative assessment of performance against their peers. In 2007 up to 75 per cent. of non-industrial staff and 100 per cent. of industrial staff could be awarded one of three tiers of bonuses. For the senior civil service, bonuses are used to reward excellent performance during the year and the award is based on a judgment of how well an individual has performed against their peers. Fixed term employees brought into the Department through fair and open competition have contracts which allow for payment of a non-consolidated, performance related bonus, usually of a maximum of 10 per cent. of basic salary. Individual performance is judged by line managers and, for those who are agency chief executives, there is an annual audit of performance against agency key targets. The Agency owner then takes a view of the individual's performance guided by the independent audit agency and the remuneration committee. MOD also operates a special bonus scheme to reward civilian staff for exceptional performance in a specific task or for the achievement of professional qualifications which benefit MOD and the individual. Staff in Trading Funds are subject to separate arrangements which meet their business needs.

(b) All MOD civil servants are eligible to belong to a pension scheme. Most belong to the principal civil service pension scheme (PCSPS)—although there are a number of different schemes under the overall PCSPS umbrella. Some analogue grades—such as lecturers, teachers and medical grades—belong to the pension scheme appropriate to that profession such as the teachers pension scheme, the Scottish teachers pension scheme and the NHS pension scheme.

(c) An MOD employed civil servant is eligible to claim for the reasonable extra expense of travel and subsistence while on official duty. This may mean travel expenses by public transport, official or private vehicle, the actual bed and breakfast costs where overnight accommodation is required and the reimbursement of actual and reasonable additional meal and refreshment costs while undertaking the official duty.

(d) The total costs directly attributed to civilian staff, for travel and subsistence since 2003-04 (excluding Trading Funds, details for which are not held centrally) are:

£ million

2003-04

117.01

2004-05

127.61

2005-06

133.69

2006-07

135.78

There are additional costs in respect of personnel movements which include car hire, for both military and civilian personnel, which are attributed to one accounting code, for which the civilian cost element can be separately identified only at disproportionate cost.

Travel costs prior to 2003-04 were attributed to a common accounting code for both military and civilian personnel. Costs for civilian personnel could be extracted only at disproportionate cost.

(e) The average age of departmental employees is shown as follows:

Average age of MoD personnel1 as at 1 April 2007

Average age

Senior civil service and equivalent2

51.7

Pay Band B

48.4

Pay Band C

46.7

Pay Band D

44.8

Pay Band E

44.4

Other non-industrial

44.7

Industrial

47.4

Trading Fund Staff

42.5

Total

45.3

1. Data include permanent and casual personnel employed by the Department, but exclude Royal Fleet Auxiliary personnel and locally engaged civilians for whom age data are not centrally held.

2 The senior civil service was formed in 1996. The totals include about 50 personnel outside the senior civil service but of equivalent grade.

Source:

DASA (Quad-Service)

(f) The number of (i) women and (ii) men employed by the Department is shown as follows:

Strength of civilian personnel1 by sex and grade as at 1 April 2007

Headcount

Female

Male

Total

Senior civil service and equivalent2

40

250

290

Pay Band B

520

2,000

2,520

Pay Band C

4,730

12,500

17,230

Pay Band D

4,630

7,800

12,430

Pay Band E

14,880

11,870

26,760

Other non-industrial

630

230

860

Industrial

2,740

10,850

13,600

Trading Fund Staff

2,150

8,100

10,250

Sub total

30,320

53,610

83,930

Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA)3

4

4

2,360

Locally engaged civilians3

4

4

15,650

Total

4

4

101,940

1 Data include permanent and casual personnel employed by the Department, the Royal Fleet Auxiliaries, Trading Funds and locally engaged civilians.

2 The senior civil service was formed in 1996. The totals include about 50 personnel outside the senior civil service but of equivalent grade.

3 Gender data are not available for royal Fleet Auxiliary personnel and locally engaged civilian personnel.

4 Not available.

Note:

All numbers are rounded to the nearest 10. Totals and sub-totals have been rounded separately and so may not equal the sum of their rounded parts.

Source:

DASA (Quad-Service).

(g) The ethnic composition of the Department is shown as follows:

Strength of civilian personnel1 by ethnic origin and grade, as at 1 April 2007

Headcount

White

Ethnic minorities

Unknown

Total

Senior civil service and equivalent2

240

3

50

290

Pay Band B

2,080

50

400

2,520

Pay Band C

14,020

400

2,820

17,230

Pay Band D

10,520

340

1,570

12,430

Pay Band E

22,430

880

3,450

26,760

Other non-industrial

660

30

170

860

Industrial

9,620

180

3,790

13,600

Trading Fund Staff

7,900

170

2,180

10,250

Sub total

67,450

2,060

14,430

89,930

Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA)4

5

5

5

2,360

Locally engaged civilians4

5

5

5

15,650

Total

5

5

5

101,940

1 Data include permanent and casual personnel employed by the Department, the Royal Fleet Auxiliaries, Trading funds and locally engaged civilians.

2 The senior civil service was formed in 1996. The totals include about 50 personnel outside the senior civil service but of equivalent grade.

3 Value less than 10.

4 Ethnicity data are not available for Royal Fleet Auxiliary personnel and locally engaged civilian personnel.

5 Not available.

Note:

All numbers are rounded to the nearest 10. Totals and sub-totals have been rounded separately and so may not equal the sum of their rounded parts.

Source:

DASA (Quad-Service).