Vol. 555 No. 4
79 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance the arrangements which have been put in place to negotiate the value for money to be yielded from benchmarking awards made to public service workers employed under the auspices of his Department; the changes which he has sought in his capacity as employer in return for the proposed awards; and when the negotiations will be concluded. [18692/02]
The Public Service Benchmarking Body was established in July 2000 and reported on 1 July 2002. The main concept underlying the benchmarking exercise was to allow for an orderly, comprehen sive and independent evaluation of public service pay. The body linked the implementation of the report's recommendations to modernisation in the public service. The public service employers and the public service unions agreed, under the adjustment to the PPF in December 2000, that one quarter of any recommended increases would be paid with effect from 1 December 2001. The body has recommended that the payment of the balance of the increases recommended should be dependent on real outputs from modernisation, change, adaptability and flexibility. In addition, the outputs must be capable of verification. Discussions between the public service employers and the public service unions on the implementation of the recommendations with particular emphasis on the issues of change, modernisation and verification are ongoing on a weekly basis. Given the current negotiations, the Deputy will appreciate that I cannot elaborate further at this stage.
