§ Mr. SpearingTo ask the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed, representing the House of Commons Commission, to what extent the Commission has(a) encouraged and (b) permitted competitive performance assessment (i) within Departments of the House and (ii) between their respective employees. [34670]
§ Mr. Beith(a) Performance-related pay was introduced several years ago for staff in the non-industrial grades in the civil service and the Commission approved the introduction of similar arrangements for appropriate groups of staff in the House in order to keep "broadly in line" with the civil service as required by the House of Commons (Administration) Act 1978.
(b) Performance pay in the House takes two different forms, depending upon the grade of the post. Competitive performance assessment exists for staff in grade 7 and above. Pay increase are dependent upon the box marks awarded in the staff annual report and the competitive element arises because the performance awards are paid from a performance budget, usually equal to 2 per cent. of the pay bill. For staff in grade 8 and below, the competitive element does not exist because performance awards, again dependent upon annual report box marks, are made in accordance with a progression chart without regard to a predetermined budget.
(i) The performance pay budgets are set on a House-wide basis for each of the grades at grade 7 and above, rather than by Department. The element of competition is therefore House-wide.
(ii) There is competition between individual members of staff at a particular grade level, at grade 7 and above.