asked the Minister for Finance the basis used for the calculation of the pay Votes in the 1988 Estimate.
Written Answers. - Estimates for 1988.
46.
The allocations for pay in the 1988 Abridged Estimates volume have been prepared on the basis of:
(a) the rates of pay in operation on 1 October 1987 subject to providing for the 1988 costs of the further phases of special pay increases which are already in the process of being paid (i.e. Clause 3.2 cases under the 1986 Public Service Pay Agreement). The estimated £70 million cost of the 1987 Public Service Pay Agreement is not included in the pay allocations.
(b) the allocations reflect, inter alia, pay savings in 1988 from expenditure reduction measures decided by Government and the additional on-going pension costs arising from redundancies which will be a consequence of these measures. Lump-sum redundancy payments are not reflected in the pay allocations.
(c) In relation to personnel the underlying assumption is that there would be a reducation of approximately 7,000 in the numbers employed in the Exchequer funded public service (excluding local authorities) during 1988. The corresponding figure for 1987 is 9,000. This reduction will be achieved through a combination of natural wastage, career breaks and the scheme of voluntary redundancy.
47.
asked the Minister for Finance whether the £20 million savings on pay Votes in 1987, revealed in Dáil Éireann on Wednesday, 9 December 1987 is separate from any departmental balances at year end.
The projected savings on the 1987 Exchequer pay and pensions bill mentioned in Dáil Éireann on 9 December 1987 were identified by Departments in their monthly expenditure returns. As a result, issues from the Exchequer will be lower than originally estimated. This reduction is separate from departmental balances carried into 1987 from the end of 1986. Given that the funds will not be issued from the Exchequer in 1987, the savings will not be available to Departments as balances in 1988.