To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what bonus was awarded to the Permanent Under-Secretary of his Department during the financial year 2007-08. (243700)

Although the Government, with the agreement of those concerned, may in exceptional cases decide to publish personal information about individual public servants, the general policy is to treat such information, including about variable pay, as private.

Pay and reward for Permanent Secretaries is considered annually by the Permanent Secretaries' Remuneration Committee and is subject to the rules and regulations governed by the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) and the Cabinet Office. Permanent Secretaries, pay has been constrained by the same centrally imposed ceiling of the senior civil service (SCS) pay bill since the current pay and reward arrangements for the senior civil service changed on 1 April 2002.

Non-consolidated bonus awards paid to the current and previous Permanent Under-Secretaries also fall within the SSRB recommended ceilings for the remainder of the SCS. These ceilings reflect the wider move to reward performance with non-consolidated, rather than consolidated, pay increases.

Bonuses for performance in a particular financial year are paid in the following financial year.