The Department operates a performance management system which rates staff on performance and behaviour scales and allocates each member of staff to one of three performance related pay (PRP) markings: ‘Excellent’, ‘Good’ and ‘Unsatisfactory’. All staff marked as unsatisfactory are subject to poor performance procedures. It is not possible to determine how many staff left employment by the Department as a direct result of an unsatisfactory rating as this information is not held centrally. The following table sets out the requested information.
Total staff year average Unsatisfactory PRP marks Percentage of staff marked unsatisfactory 2006-07 2,250 32 1.42 2007-08 2,178 8 0.37 2008-09 2,222 9 0.41
Details of the previous two years are not held centrally and to retrieve that information would incur disproportionate costs.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) operates the same PRP rating system as the core Department.
In the MHRA no staff have been dismissed on grounds of unsatisfactory performance. Some staff have resigned during the performance management process but it the cause of such resignations are not recorded. The information for the MHRA is as follows.
2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Number 636 n/a 789 871 866 Unsatisfactory 16 n/a 17 6 8 Percentage unsatisfactory 2.52 n/a 2.15 0.69 0.92 n/a = This information is not available.
The records for the NHS Procurement and Supply Agency (PASA) are only available for 2007-08, when fewer than five members of staff received an unsatisfactory rating and left as a result of the rating. There were 257 (full-time equivalent) members of staff during 2007-08 and the staff leaving represents less than 2 per cent. of total.
The Department and its agencies do not hold records on the employment of former staff after they leave the Department.