§ Mr. ToddTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list each of the functions relating to the payroll for which his Department is responsible, indicating the management systems purchased, all sub-contractors involved in the work, co-operative arrangements with other Departments and the costs of the systems and processes in the last year for which figures are available. [10739]
§ Mr. SpellarEmployees on the payroll of the Ministry of Defence are either civil servants or members of the armed forces.
468WCivil Service
For civil servants the Pay and Personnel Agency carries out the following functions related to the department's payroll responsibilities. The associated management systems and costs are also shown.
Function Management systems Costs of the systems/processes in 1996–97 £ million Civil Service non-industrial pay On-line validation and error reporting—known as "OLIVER" 5.59 Civil Service industrial pay The Defence Industrial Pay Systems(DIPS) 5.82 Pensions administration Financial Information System—known as "FIS" 2.97 Expenses management and processing Computerised payment and authorising of civilian travel—"COMPACT" 1.54 Personnel IT support Civilian Personnel Management Information System—CIPMIS 0.62 There are no co-operative arrangements with other Departments although the agency does provide some payroll associated services to other Government Departments and agencies on a recoverable costs basis.
There is no sub-contractor involvement with the systems and processes associated with civilian payroll as the bulk are bespoke systems designed, maintained and operated in-house. However, the management system use for pensions administration is provided by Chessington Computer Services Ltd., which is contracted by the Cabinet Office under the central arrangements for the principal civil service pension scheme. Similarly the agency maintains a civilian staff personnel information system as a complementary service to the MOD and this uses a contractor—CAP Gemini—to provide IT operations and support.
Armed Forces
For members of the armed forces, the Armed Forces Personnel Administration Agency—AFPAA—formed on 1 April 1997, is responsible for the following tri-service payroll functions:
Payment of regular, reserve and volunteer reserve military personnel including associated allowances.Payment of terminal grants, special capital payments and resettlement commutation.Payment of family maintenance grants.Pensions administration.A number of mostly bespoke management systems provide the listed functions but a separate, commercial, package has been purchased to administer RAF reserves pay.
There are no co-operative arrangements with other Government Departments for armed forces payroll. However, normal administrative arrangements exist with external organisations such as DSS, CSA, HMIT and the Inland Revenue.
469WSub-contractors who are employed by—AFPAA—and provide support to payroll systems are; QVF, Grist, CSS Trident, Lorien and Parity Solutions Ltd.
As military personnel administration and payroll functions utilise the same IT infrastructure and systems, it is not possible to identify separately those costs specifically attributable to payroll. However, indicative costs for providing payroll and pensions services to the armed forces are;
- Navy £10.13 million
- Army £11.69 million
- RAF £9.81 million
AFPAA is currently engaged in the procurement of a partner from the private sector, through the private finance initiative, to deliver most of the agency's services. The contractor will be required to deliver a harmonised tri-service pay system by 1 April 2000."