Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much was paid in (a) year end and (b) in-year bonuses to officials of his Department in each of the last three years.

Since 2010-11 the Government has restricted awards for senior civilservants to the top 25% of performers (from 65% in previous years),saving around £15 million overall. We have also reformed the system of bonuses, resulting in a reduction of total payments from £735,259 in 2010-11 to £448,000 in 2014-15. This is expected to be cut by a further £75,000 in 2015-16.

Non-consolidated performance related pay is only paid to rewardexcellence, for example to recognise and incentivise those responsiblefor delivering high quality public services and savings to thetaxpayer. These one-off payments are not pensionable