Bonuses totalling £1 million paid out to leading civil servants are to come under the spotlight, it was confirmed today.

A Stormont scrutiny committee is to ask why the majority of top civil servants were handed the 2007 bonuses.

Chairman of the Assembly's Finance and Personnel Committee Mitchel McLaughlin said he would be asking why the payments were made despite concerns over the performance of elements of the civil service.

"We were alarmed to learn that, in 2007, almost 75% of the 200 senior civil servants received bonuses, amounting to over £1m," said the Sinn Fein representative.

"Our unease over these bonuses is heightened by our concerns with the performance of the senior Civil Service in certain key areas, including in financial management, (especially in view of high levels of departmental underspend), sick absence management and in achieving business targets generally."

He said the committee would be seeking information on the issue as a matter of urgency.

The committee has now requested updated information from the Department of Finance and Personnel by November 21.

The union for public service workers, Nipsa, hit out at the news.

Its General Secretary John Corey said: "Nipsa has always opposed performance pay bonuses for civil servants.

"We believe such systems are unnecessary and divisive.

"It is unfair that some senior civil servants should be receiving large bonus payments while thousands of low paid civil servants are denied pay rates to meet the increased cost of living."

Last month it emerged civil servants were continuing to lose almost three weeks of work each year on sick leave.

Despite government efforts to radically cut absenteeism data from the Statistics and Research Agency today showed sick absence had only dropped from 13.7 days last year to 12.9 days in the year 2007/2008.

Nipsa said government should deal with the causes of illness, including high levels of stress, rather than pursuing policies that demoralise staff.

Finance Minister Nigel Dodds conceded at the time that the reduction fell short of targets set by government but said he was determined to bring the figures down.