§ Mr. MallonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will give details of the nature and purpose of performance bonuses paid to staff of each health board within the past 12 months.
§ Mr. HanleyIncentive bonus payments are made to certain ancillary and general staff employed by health and social services boards in return for increased productivity. In each instance the bonus is the result of the application of a measured day work scheme. Such a scheme is where a given number of staff agree, on a group basis, to work to a predetermined incentive performance level in carrying out their duties at specific standards. In return they are paid a fixed percentage bonus which is calculated on the staff group basis. All schemes must be self-financing.
A performance-related pay scheme is in operation for general managers, unit general managers, senior managers and senior nurse managers. This is a scheme for relating rewards to quantifiable achievement rather than to subjective judgments of personal qualities. This scheme enables management to reward staff who have attained a high level of achievement against individual performance review targets set on an annual basis.