Civil Servants earning over £60,000 per annum: Publication of salary bands (P71/2010): Comments of States Employment Board

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[THIS DECISION HAS BEEN RESCINDED BY MD-C-2010-0058] A decision made on 29 June 2010 to present comments of States Employment Board on Civil Servants earning over £60,000 per annum: Publication of salary bands (P71/2010)

Decision Reference: MD-C-2010-0057
Decision Summary Title :	P.71/2010 – Comments of the States Employment Board		Date of Decision Summary:	28th June 2010
Decision Summary Author:	Head of Employment Relations		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title :	P.71/2010 – Comments of the States Employment Board		Date of Written Report:	28th June 2010
Written Report Author:	Head of Employment Relations		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Written
Subject: P.71 / 2010 – Comments of the States Employment Board
Decision(s): The Chief Minister agreed to present to the States Assembly the comments of the States Employment Board on P.71/2010.
Reason(s) for Decision: To enable the States to have the States Employment Board’s comments prior to debating P.71/2010.
Resource Implications: There are no resource implications.
Action required: The Head of Employment Relations to request the Greffier of the States to lodge the comments at the earliest opportunity.
Signature:		Position: Senator T.A. Le Sueur, Chief Minister
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Civil Servants earning over £60,000 per annum: Publication of salary bands (P71/2010): Comments of States Employment Board

P71 / 2010

Civil Servants earning over £60,000 per annum: Publication of Salary Bands

Comments of the States Employment Board

1. Where the States Employment Board believes that there is a clear public interest that information should be published, it will do so. That is why it has recently agreed that the salary levels of officers earning more than £100,000 per annum should be published. However, it believes that the present proposition is not proportionate in this respect.

2. The Board cannot support the proposal that the personal names of each employee earning over £60,000 should be published as requested in the proposition, nor that the personal details of any enhancements to basic salaries be published. To do so would seriously undermine those individuals’ rights to privacy; strain the implied contractual duty of mutual trust and confidence between employer and employee; and have serious implications for employees’ rights under Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights and the First Data Protection Principle (in that it would result in disclosure of personal data of less senior officers who maintain a greater expectation of privacy than those at Chief Officer / Director levels).

3. However, being constructive, and as an alternative to what is being sought in the proposition, the States Employment Board would propose to publish, in bands of £5,000, by department, the numbers of staff who have salaries of over £60,000. Any salary enhancements over and above normal contractual terms will be included in the assessment of salary for reporting purposes. The Board suggests that this would meet the objectives which lie behind the proposition whilst safeguarding the statutory and contractual rights of staff to privacy.

4. The States Employment Board urges States Members to reject this proposition but accept the alternative offer of the States Employment Board.