Staff bonus payments

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. How much was paid out in bonuses to your department’s staff?

1. Please could you provide a total figure for the department

a. An average bonus figure for the department

b. Breakdown of bonus by salary bands and the number of people within each band

c. Total non-consolidated pay to senior civil servants in the department and how many people fall within this category. As well as a breakdown of these payments; job title – basic salary – bonus paid – type of bonus – financial year .

Please could you provide this information for the following time frames:

1. Financial year 2008/2009

2. Financial year 2009/2010

3. Calendar year 2008/2009

4. Calendar year 2009/2010

Thank you for your e-mail dated 13^th December 2010. We respond to the questions in your request, but please be aware that not all of the information Ordnance Survey holds has been provided within this response, as parts of it fall within an exemption under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000 and this detailed where applicable.

How much was paid out in bonuses to your department’s staff?

1.  Please could you provide a total figure for the department:

a)  Financial year 2008/2009 - £192,830

b)  Financial year 2009/2010 – £213,440

Please note that the above figures include all bonuses and discretionary awards made from non consolidated pay. This does exclude seven Senior Civil Service staff, as they do not form part of our pay remit.

2. An average bonus figure for the department 

a) Financial year 2008/2009 - Average by payment £2,323

                                              - Average by FTE £141

b) Financial year 2009/2010  - Average by payment £2,093

                                            - Average by FTE £166
We have provided you with an average by bonus and by FTE (full time equivalent) staff, as your request did not specify which.

3.  A breakdown of bonus by salary bands and the number of people within each band.

a)  Financial year 2008/2009

b)      Financial year 2009/2010

a) Financial year 2008/2009

b)  Financial year 2009/2010

Ordnance Survey does hold the information requested in your question 4, however this information is exempt under Section 21 (1) Information available to applicant by other means and Section 40 (2) Personal information.

We believe the Information available to applicant by other means exemption applies because we publish the salary information of our senior civil service staff in our annual reports, which are detailed in our Publication Scheme and on the Ordnance Survey website. Please see the links below:

http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/aboutus/reports/annualreport/08-09/index.html

http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/aboutus/reports/annualreport/09-10/os_annual_report_2010.pdf

You have requested a breakdown of basic salary, bonus paid and type of bonus in your question 4. I can confirm that Ordnance Survey does hold this information, however we consider this information is exempt from disclosure under Section 40 (2) of the Freedom of Information Act, as it constitutes personal data, and its release would be a breach of the first principle of the Data Protection Act 1998, therefore we will not be releasing this information to you.

As you will note, following my telephone message of the 11^th January 2011, we have not provided any of the information you have requested in ‘Calendars years’ for 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. Although Ordnance Survey does hold this information, it has not been provided as we consider compliance with this part of your request would exceed the appropriate cost limit according to Section 12 (1) of the Freedom of Information Act.
This is because the process of locating and extracting the information from the current format into calendar years would be very timely, and the cost of compliance would exceed the appropriate limit.

Please note that your enquiry has been processed according to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000.  In considering the public interest (Section 17 FOIA), as Information Accessible to Applicant by other means (Section 21 (1)) is an absolute exemption, no public interest test is required.

Personal Information (Section 40 (2)) is a qualified exemption, but as the release of the information you have requested would contravene the Data Protection Act 1998, therefore we have determined the public interest in withholding this information does outweigh that of disclosure in this instance.

If you are unhappy with our response, you may raise an appeal to our Appeals Officer at:

FOI Appeals Officer
Customer Service Centre
Ordnance Survey
Adanac Drive
SOUTHAMPTON
SO16 0AS

Please include the reference number below. The Appeals Officer will ensure that the process has been followed correctly, questioning any decisions taken regarding the original response and recommending disclosure of additional information if appropriate.

Thank you for your enquiry.

Reference number: FOI10124/December 2010