However, in honouring this agreement, the Government is well aware of the fundamentals on which it was established, namely reform, modernisation and productivity. Some 75% of the benchmarking award is conditional on reform, productivity and modernisation taking place over the lifetime of the agreement. In confirming its obligation, the Government has no doubt that the public sector unions understand that there is a strict element of conditionality attached to this and that such reform and productivity must be verifiable. When this happens, we will have achieved what was intended, which is a public service which is matched to the market economy with a system of market linked computation for public pay based on merit and skill. There are thousands of hard-working public servants who look to the benchmarking system as their avenue for career advancement based on skill and merit rather than length of service.