HC Deb 19 March 1900 vol 80 cc1184-5
MR. GIBSON BOWLES

I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether, under Rule II. of Treasury Circular, No. 17341, issued in December last, a staff officer in the Civil Service in receipt of a salary of £400 per annum, who has become a staff officer by promotion from the Second Division, would, on promotion to a clerkship in the First Division, carrying a scale of £200 to £500 per annum, either (1) be put on the minimum of the scale of his new post, namely, £200, or, if he preferred, (2) on the salary which he would have reached if he had remained in the Second Division, which salary might be considerably less, but could not be greater than £350 per annum; whether the Order of Her Majesty in Council, dated 15th August, 1890, which applies to all permanent officers in the Civil Service on scales of salary in excess of the Second Division, and therefore includes within its scope the staff officer in question, provides that no person promoted to a higher post shall in any case suffer immediote pecuniary loss by such promotion; and whether, in the circumstances, the Rule referred to is competent; and, if so, from what statutory or other authority the power of the Treasury to make a Rule superseding provision in an Order of Her Majesty in Council is derived.

THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. HANBURY,) Preston

The statements in the first paragraph are correct. Appointments to staff posts are the prizes of the Second Division, and are not intended to form stepping stones to the First Division. The salaries of such posts are therefore fixed on an exceptionally liberal scale. It would be obviously improper to allow the holder of such a post to be advanced to the First Division with a commencing salary higher than that of his colleague of equal service who had entered the Division after an open competition of a much higher class. Clause 4 of the Order in Council of 15th August, 1890, to which the hon. Member refers, increases the official attendance throughout the service from six to seven hours, and provides that any person then serving, who might thereafter be promoted, should give seven hours attendance without addition to the rate of salary attached to the office. As, however, such person might at the date of the promotion be in actual receipt of a personal allowance for a seven hours attendance, the proviso was introduced to ensure him against actual loss by the cessation of his allowance, if the salary of his new post was less than his previous salary and allowance combined. Beyond this the proviso has no general application. The Rule II. of the Treasury Circular of December last does not therefore conflict with the provisions of any Order in Council.