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Departmental Pay

Volume 479: debated on Monday 29 September 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of her 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. (171403)

The data is in presented (tables 1 and 2) by grade bands rather than by the requested salary bands. They provide average age, gender and ethnicity information. To provide the information by salary bands would incur a disproportionate cost due to the way the databases are organised.

The Home Office Headquarters (HOHQ) and the United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA) do not centrally record the title and role of each employee; to provide this information would incur a disproportionate cost.

Bonuses1

Bonuses are funded from the existing pay bill. As part of the annual salary award, non-consolidated (cash) bonuses may be awarded to staff below SCS who have demonstrated exceptional performance. Special bonuses may also be awarded to recognise outstanding achievements.

Bonus arrangements for the SCS are set out in the Senior Salaries Review Body report which can be found at:

http://www.home.uk.com/downloads/30thpercent20Report percent20onpercent20Seniorpercent20Salariespercent20-percent202008.pdf

1 Applies to UK Border Agency and Home Office Headquarters.

Retirement provision

Those eligible for a retirement provision are covered by the terms of the Principle Civil Service Scheme. This scheme is administered by the Civil Service Pensions Division of the Cabinet Office. The following link may be useful:

http://www.civilservice-pensions.gov.uk/publications.aspx

Reimbursement of expenses incurred in the course of official work Permanent Home Office staff and others (such as contractors (when specified in their contract) who are employed by the Home Office) are entitled to reimbursement for expenses that are necessarily incurred in the course of their duties including, for example travel and accommodation. When no extra expense is incurred, no reimbursement is due.

HO HQ and UKBA are unable to provide expenses paid to staff in civil service salary bands only, without incurring disproportionate cost.

Table 1: HO HQ staff breakdown by grade, gender, ethnicity and average age data as at 31 March 2008

Grade

Title

Full time equivalent

Headcount

Percentage headcount

Male

Female

BME

Prefer not to say

White

Unknown

Average age

AA

Administrative Assistant

113.51

119

3

68

51

7

1

24

87

39

AO

Administrative Officer

471.58

500

14

176

324

92

8

176

224

41

EO

Executive Officer

545.33

566

16

232

334

125

12

246

183

40

HEO

Higher Executive Officer

608.66

624

17

326

298

59

4

297

264

37

SEO

Senior Executive Officer

533.77

550

15

308

242

58

7

301

184

41

G7

Grade 7

492.31

506

14

297

209

32

20

266

188

41

G6

Grade 6

204.97

210

6

122

88

10

5

158

57

46

SCS

Senior Civil Servant

147.35

149

4

113

36

4

1

90

54

48

Other

401.5

402

11

248

154

1

1

18

382

33

Total

3,519

3,626

100

1,890

1,736

388

59

1,556

1,623

41

Percentage

100

100

52

48

11

2

43

45

Table 2: UKBA staff breakdown by grade, gender, ethnicity and average age data as at 31 March 2008

Grade

Title

Full time equivalent

Headcount

Percentage headcount

Male

Female

BME

Prefer not to say

White

Unknown

Average age

AA

Administrative Assistant

2,003.6

2,180

11.33

695

1,048

228

10

422

1,082

39

AO/AIO

Administrative Officer/Assistant Immigration Officer

4,793.9

5,174

26.90

2,115

2,942

970

27

1,693

2,368

38

EO/IO

Executive Officer/Immigration Officer

6,781.6

7,137

37.10

3,179

3,838

1,302

58

3,074

2,583

39

HEO//CIO

Higher Executive Officer/Chief Immigration Officer

2,793.6

2,905

15.10

1,341

1,471

302

21

1,408

1,081

34

SEO/IMM INSP

Senior Executive Officer/HM Immigration Inspector

1,153.6

1,196

6.22

556

576

132

11

727

262

42

G7

Grade 7

402.27

416

2.16

197

195

19

6

265

102

43

G6

Grade 6

133.77

137

0.71

86

47

3

0

92

38

44

SCS

Senior Civil Servant

51.6

52

0.27

31

15

0

0

29

17

46

NA1

40

40

0.21

Total

18,153.94

19,237

100.00

8,200

10,132

2,956

133

7,710

7,533

40

Percentage

100

100

45

55

16

1

42

41

1 A small number of new or temporary staff were held on the date in question without a grade recorded, on the personnel information management system.