Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 1367: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the bonuses that were paid to her staff for the year ending 31 December 2005; the amount of money that was paid; the way in which this was calculated; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1928/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My Department operates two bonus or merit schemes for all staff — a performance-related awards scheme for posts at the level of assistant secretaries general and an employee recognition awards scheme, Aitheantas, that recognises exceptional performance for all other grades up to and including principal officer and equivalent in the Department.

Civil Service posts at the levels of assistant secretary and deputy secretary are covered by a scheme of performance-related awards, which was introduced in 2002. The operation of the scheme is overseen by the committee for performance awards. The funding for awards is based on 10% of the payroll for the posts covered by the scheme. Within this overall limit, payments of up to 20% can be made to individuals.

Details of the procedures, the numbers covered by the scheme, the range of awards and the total amounts paid in Departments are outlined in the annual reports of the committee, which are available on the website www.finance.gov.ie. The committee does not identify the amount paid to individuals as this is regarded as personal information. Prior to the introduction of the current scheme, there was a scheme of awards for assistant secretaries general, which was based on 4% of the pay bill for assistant secretaries general. Payments under the Department's Aitheantas scheme for staff up to and including principal officer and equivalent grades are made annually. Individual awards —€1,000 in 2005 — for all grades and group awards —€250 per group member in 2005 — are made.

Criteria for receipt of an award under the Aitheantas scheme include consistently high performance, creative application of skills and initiative to the resolution of difficult issues, development of new procedures and processes which increase the effectiveness and-or quality of a service, exceptional commitment shown in the implementation of specific measures, establishment and maintenance of high standards of quality in the delivery of a particular service or services, highly effective co-ordination of activities which results in meeting targets ahead of schedule, assuming effective control in areas when urgent action is required to maintain quality or credibility of an educational service and-or providing leadership of a project team resulting in improved performance. A breakdown, by grade, of the number of awards in 2005 grade is as follows.