§ MR. ESSLEMONT (Aberdeen, E.)I beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he can say how many 1756 months' continuous sick leave, or continuous sick and private leave combined, are allowed, with full pay, to Civil servants of the Crown; whether the same period of continuous leave, with full pay, is granted equally to ordinary clerks and to the superior officials, and if the same rule applies equally in all Departments of the State; whether there is any truth in the rumour mentioned in the Civilian newspaper, of the 9th April last, that there has lately been more than one instance in which certain highly placed officials have been allowed to draw full pay when absent from duty for more than six months; and whether the Comptroller and Auditor General has any means of checking a proceeding of this kind?
SIR J. GORSTPerhaps the hon. Member will allow me to answer the question. Six months' continuous sick leave may be given, at the discretion of heads of Departments and without distinction, to clerks of the Second Division and to officers of higher standing under Order in Council, and the rule applies to all Departments. The Treasury have expressed the opinion that this allowance is a very liberal one, and ought to include ordinary leave. I am not aware of the circumstances alleged in paragraph three. The Comptroller and Auditor General has, so far as I am aware, no means of checking the allowance of leave to Civil servants.