Vol. 544 No. 2
147 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Education and Science his views on whether the benchmarking body will report by June 2002 and whether the first payment will be backdated only to December 2001; and the additional once-off offer which can be made to restore goodwill and resolve the ASTI dispute with his Department. [28350/01]
The public service benchmarking body was established under the terms of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, PPF. One of the essential features of the benchmarking process is that it will look at all key public service groups as part of one exercise and that there will be one comprehensive report covering all the grades involved. The public service benchmarking body has been asked to produce its report by 30 June 2002. This is six months earlier than had been envisaged during the PPF negotiations. It would not be practical to expect the body to report any earlier. It has been agreed between the Government and the public services committee of the ICTU that one quarter of any increase arising from the report will be implemented with effect from 1 December 2001.
The pay terms of the PPF agreement were adjusted following the agreement reached between the Government and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in December 2000. This adjustment provided for a further 2% increase in basic pay with effect from 1 April 2001 and a once-off lump sum payment equal to 1% of basic pay to be implemented on 1 April 2002. The 2% due with effect from 1 April 2001 has already been paid to ASTI members and they will also benefit from the 1% lump sum payment on 1 April 2002. By 1 October next all teachers will have received 22.6% increase under the terms of the PPF together with the 1% lump sum. Any increase under the benchmarking process will be additional to this.
