§ MR. FIELD (Dublin, St. Patrick)To ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether the nominated members of the old Colonial Audit Branch of the Exchequer and Audit Department had to undergo any educational test before being admitted to the branch; whether he can state what were the subjects of examination and standard of proficiency required; and what public authority examined them in these subjects.
(Answered by Mr. Runciman.) The conditions of appointment to the old Colonial Audit Branch were fully explained to the hon. Member in the replies given to his Questions of 6th March, 1906.
§ MR. FIELDTo ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he will state the total number of candidates nominated for admission to the old Colonial Audit Branch of the Exchequer and Audit Department from the time of its formation to its recent amalgamation with the Exchequer and Audit Department, and the total numbers rejected 907 through inability to pass the medical test and the educational test, respectively.
(Answered by Mr. Runciman.) Candidates were not nominated until they had satisfied the Comptroller and Auditor General as to their health and educational qualifications. The total number nominated was sixty-two. No record is kept of the number of applicants who failed to obtain nomination.
§ MR. FIELDTo ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether the nominated members of the old Colonial Audit Branch in London were admitted without passing a Civil Service examination or obtaining a Civil Service certificate, without pension rights, and on a scale of salary, £70—£5—£100, etc., the same as the Second Division scale; whether these members are now allowed to enter the newly-amalgamated Colonial Audit Branch and Exchequer and Audit Department as examiners with a Civil Service certificate without passing a Civil Service examination, with pension rights, and at such salaries as if they had originally entered at £100—£10—£200—£15—£350; whether he can explain who was responsible for initiating the granting of these privileges to the nominees of the Comptroller and Auditor-General, who originally entered without any claims to them; whether these facts were placed before the Treasury and the Colonial Office before such a scheme was sanctioned by those two Departments; whether the Treasury and Colonial Office officials are responsible for such sanction; whether the Second Division members of the old Exchequer and Audit Department, who entered by passing Civil Service examinations and obtaining Civil Service certificates, with pension rights, and on the same scale of salary, £70—£5—£100, etc., and who are now similarly serving in the newly-amalgamated departments as examiners, are allowed the same levelling-up of salaries as if they had originally entered at £100—£10—£200—£15—£350; whether these two old sets of officials will in future be interchangeable and employed on the same kind of work; whether he can say why the open competition men are treated differently from they men who entered through the 908 patronage of the Comptroller and Auditor-General; and whether he will now furnish information on this subject, apart from such an official defence as may be put forward.
(Answered by Mr. Runciman.) Members of the old Colonial Audit Branch were appointed with a view to service in the Colonies in posts carrying an initial salary of £300 a year with pension rights. The scale of £70—£5—£100 was that laid down for the training period, generally a short one, of service at headquarters prior to appointments in the Colonies. Under the scheme of amalgamation recommended by the Comptroller and Auditor-General, and approved by the Colonial Office and the Treasury, members of the old Colonial Audit Branch serving at headquarters were granted Civil Service certificates under Clause VII. of the Order in Council of 4th June, 1870, and if in receipt of a lower rate of pay were raised to the minimum of the new scale (£100). Those filling posts in the Colonies will, if they elect the new terms, be similarly certificated and have their salaries reassessed, as stated in the Question, the difference between the amounts thus arrived at and their present Colonial scales being treated as unpensionable local allowances. They will therefore have their pensions calculated on the Home scales of pay instead of, as heretofore, on the higher Colonial rates, and they will moreover, unlike Second Division clerks of the Exchequer and Audit Department, continue to be liable for service abroad. These circumstances therefore render their position dissimilar from that of the second division clerks of the Exchequer and Audit Department.