To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what employee reward schemes are offered to staff of his Department; what the purpose of each scheme is; how many staff participate in each scheme; and what the cost of operating each scheme was in each of the last five years. (290548)

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport offers two such schemes: (a) special bonuses to reward outstanding contributions in particularly demanding tasks or situations, and (b) consistent with the general civil service principles of performance-related pay, to reward highly successful performance over a whole year. All permanent employees of the Department are eligible to receive either, subject to meeting the performance criteria. The costs of running this scheme for the past five years are set out as follows: