Vol. 517 No. 2
47 Mr. Stagg asked the Minister for Finance when it is intended to establish the proposed public service benchmarking body to examine public sector pay and conditions arising from the commitment given in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9368/00]
The Programme for Prosperity and Fairness provides for the establishment of a public service benchmarking body to undertake a fundamental examination of the pay of public service employees vis-à-vis the private sector. This body is to be established within three months of the commencement of the agreement, that is by 31 December 2000. The benchmarking body will be asked to produce its report and recommendations by the end of 2002 to allow the parties to discuss the implementation of its recommendations in the context of any successor to the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness.
The benchmarking exercise will cover both pay and jobs in the public service and across the economy. It will examine and compare job content, duties and responsibilities in both sectors. The examination will also be based on in-depth and comprehensive research, examination and analysis of private sector pay, across a range of employment types and sectors, and will take account of the way reward systems are structured in the private sector. Any increases which might emerge from the exercise will not take effect during the period of this agreement.
The agreement makes it clear that cross-sectoral relativities are incompatible with the operation of benchmarking and, even within a given sector, traditional or historical relativities between groups will not prevent the benchmarking body from recommending what it considers are appropriate pay rates on the basis of existing circumstances. There will be only one report covering all the groups involved in order to achieve a coherent and integrated approach, and to avoid the problems of the past where an award based on the alleged exceptional circumstances of a particular group quickly led to a spiral of special pay increases right across the public service.
There is a perception among some public servants that their pay has fallen behind private sector pay, while private sector employees believe that public service pay has increased at a faster rate than theirs. Public service pay cannot evolve in isolation. It has to be set in the context of pay in the wider economy to ensure equity between public service and private sector employees. The proposal to establish a benchmarking body represents a major initiative which is designed to provide a logical and coherent approach going forward on public service pay.
