The government is running a "something for nothing" culture after it was revealed civil servants were handed £128m in bonuses, the Tories claim.

The 2007-8 figures, obtained through Parliamentary questions, show the average senior civil servant banked a bonus of more than £7,000, they said.

Top-level staff at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport earned the most, at £11,000.

A Conservative spokesman said taxpayers would be "horrified".

Shadow Treasury chief secretary Philip Hammond said: "Many families who are finding themselves Bank's No 2 to stand down early ...
Crude oil prices cross $138 a barrel for first time ...
US unemployment rate surges to 5.5% ...
US productivity beats forecasts ...
US new home sales at 16-year-low ... squeezed between stagnant earnings and soaring living costs will be horrified by the use of £128m of taxpayers' money to pay bonuses to civil servants.

"With government failing on so many fronts, this looks like a 'something for nothing' culture."

Data loss

The figures, for the last financial year, show that the Ministry of Defence paid out the most in bonuses at £41.3m.

Bonuses to staff at the Department for Work and Pensions totalled £36.6m, including £3.7m to workers at the soon-to-be-scrapped Child Support Agency.

Treasury employees took home £21.7m, of which more than £19m went to staff at HM Revenue and Customs.

Late last year, the agency lost discs containing the personal data of more than 25 million people.

Civil servants at the Home Office were given £5.7m, staff at the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (formerly the DTI) £4.4m, and those at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) £3.9m.

(BBC)

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