Joan Burton
Ceist:89 Ms Burton asked the Minister for Education and Science the progress made to date in regard to the implementation of the Civil Service action plan drawn up to meet the requirements of the benchmarking process within his own Department and within the public service generally; if the Civil Service performance verification group has decided that the level of progress warrants the payment of the general round and the benchmarking award on 1 January 2004; if payments will be withheld in any sector due to failure to make adequate progress; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30090/03]