HC Deb 11 May 2001 vol 368 cc412-4W
Mr. Hancock

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reason sailors in all ranks are not permitted to view their job evaluation results under the evaluation of the system put forward under Pay 2000; and if he will make a statement. [153978]

Mr. Spellar

The Job Evaluation (JE) system used in the armed forces evaluates the post, not the individual postholder. In view of the total number of service personnel, it is not possible to evaluate posts individually. In practice, a representative sample of jobs is evaluated and the results applied to like jobs undertaken at the same rank. While copies of the full job descriptions generated as part of the el aluation process are made widely available, the final evaluation scores are not released. This is common practice in the wider evaluation industry and is consistently followed throughout the armed forces regardless of rank or Service. The evaluation system and its use are periodically scrutinised by independent consultants on behalf of the Office of Manpower Economics and the Armed Forces Pay Review Body.

Mr. Hancock

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the job evaluation results of the Officer Corps will be published; and if he will make a statement. [153982]

Mr. Spellar

To date, few Officer posts have been evaluated using the current evaluation system. Priority has been given to evaluating non-commissioned personnel to underpin the introduction of the new pay system, Pay 2000. However, a comprehensive programme of Officer evaluation will begin this year and the first tranche of results will be provided to the Armed Forces Pay Review body in September. While copies of the full job descriptions generated by the evaluation process are made widely available, the final scores are not published. This is common practice within the wider evaluation industry.

Mr. Hancock

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the recent statement by the Second Sea Lord about the job evaluation system for officers; and if he will make a statement. [153980]

Mr. Spellar

During the course of a discussion with a group of Royal Navy Senior Ratings at HMS Dryad on 28 February 2001, the Second Sea Lord explained that officers below one star rank (Commodore Royal Navy and Brigadier Royal Marines) have not yet been job evaluated. He stated that this was in part due to the career patterns of officers, which can complicate the evaluation process. In addition, the priority has been to complete sufficient job evaluation for non-commissioned personnel to support the introduction of the new pay system, Pay 2000. Prior to its adoption in 1997, the present Job Evaluation system was extensively tested over a wide variety of posts, including over 400 officer posts.

It was demonstrated to be a sufficiently robust system for evaluating jobs at all ranks, including officers. Most senior officer posts at two star rank and above have now been evaluated, and a comprehensive programme to evaluate the remaining officer ranks is about to begin. The aim is to complete the first tranche by September 2001 in accordance with the stated requirements of the Armed Forces Pay Review Body.

Mr. Hancock

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if Royal Naval personnel of all ranks are permitted to see their Job Evaluations; and if he will make a statement. [158581]

Mr. Spellar

The Job Evaluation (JE) system used in the armed forces evaluates the post, not the individual postholder. In view of the numbers A posts involved, it is not possible to evaluate them individually. In practice, a representative sample of jobs is evaluated and the results applied to like jobs undertaken at he same rank. The single services are extensively involved in the evaluation process. In the Royal Navy, the Director of Naval Manning nominates the individuals whose posts will be evaluated. RN warrant officers conduct the corresponding interviews. A tri-service team of three evaluation judges at RN Captain rank and equivalent then score the jobs.

It is not normal practice within the wider JE industry to release the results for individual posts. This is also the case in the armed forces, regardless of rank or service. Individual results are normally combined with others in the sample population to arrive at scores for a whole trade. On its own, therefore, the result for an individual post is open to misinterpretation. The process used to evaluate the jobs of service personnel is subject to periodic scrutiny by independent consultants acting on behalf of the Office of Manpower Economics and the Armed Forces Pay Review Body.

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