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Departmental Pay

Volume 486: debated on Thursday 15 January 2009

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if he will make it his policy to ensure that temporary and permanent employees at the same grade and at an hourly rate by his Department are paid at the same rate. (244399)

Staff employed by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) on short-term contracts are paid under the same pay systems that apply to permanent staff in BERR. They are salaried workers and are not paid at an hourly rate.

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much has been allocated for bonuses for staff within his Department in 2008-09. (246589)

The Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform awards non-consolidated bonuses in two formats:

1. Special bonuses to recognise performance in particularly demanding tasks or situations. Staff in receipt of a special bonus may also receive an annual performance award.

2. Annual performance awards paid to highly successful performers as part of the annual pay award.

Based on the information available the total amount spent on annual performance awards in 2008-09 is £2,240,592. Information on special bonuses paid in 2008-09 is not yet available, however the maximum expenditure is 0.4 per cent. of pay bill, in 2007-08 this was approximately £693,386.

This figure includes staff who were transferred from BERR to DECC as part of the October 2008 Machinery of Government changes as these staff received a BERR pay award in 2008.