Dan Boyle
Question:202 Mr. Boyle asked the Minister for Finance the Government's plans to ensure full compliance with payment of benchmarking awards. [20940/03]
Vol. 571 No. 1
202 Mr. Boyle asked the Minister for Finance the Government's plans to ensure full compliance with payment of benchmarking awards. [20940/03]
204 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Finance the steps it is intended to take to meet the com mitments to modernisation of the public service given in Sustaining Progress; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20767/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 202 and 204 together.
In replying to the question it is important to remember the steps that have already been taken to meet the commitments to modernisation of the public service given in Sustaining Progress.
My Department requested all Secretaries General and other heads of offices to put in place the necessary measures to ensure that the civil service change and modernisation agenda set out in Sustaining Progress could be delivered. Secretaries General who are responsible for particular sectors of the public service were also requested to ensure both that the stakeholders and agencies within their sectors were fully informed of the terms of the agreement and that they would actively participate in pushing forward the change and modernisation agenda. Arrangements were also put in place by my Department to monitor developments in relation to the modernisation commitments in Sustaining Progress across the public service. In addition, the SMI implementation group of Secretaries General assumed and will continue to have an important role of overseeing and driving progress towards achieving these commitments.
In its report, the benchmarking body recommended that the implementation of the pay awards – apart from the first one quarter of any award – should be conditional on appropriate validation procedures verifying that sufficient progress was achieved in the implementation of the modernisation agenda. Sustaining Progress goes further in that it also links the payment of the general round increases in its pay provisions to the independent assessment of sufficient progress and also provides that such an assessment can be made in relation to each sector, organisation and grade across the public service.