§ Mr. MilburnTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to his answer of 2 May,Official Report, columns 161–62, if he will provide comparable details on civil service early retirement packages on grounds of inefficiency. [29288]
§ Sir John WheelerInefficiency is a ground for dismissal. An immediate lump sum payment of up to two years' salary may be made in respect of non-industrial personnel where a Department judges payment of compensation to be appropriate. Where compensation is payable and the person dismissed is over age 55, the compensation payment may be forgone in favour of immediate payment of accrued superannuation benefits which would normally be preserved for payment at retiring age. The latter would usually be more beneficial to the officer.
For staff departures from the Northern Ireland Departments and the Northern Ireland Office the relevant information is not available for the financial years 199091 and 1991–92. The information of subsequent years is as follows:
Year Number of departures Total compensation paid £ 1992–93 5 38,395.07 1993–94 9 41,233.15 1994–95 6 60,494.90