§ Mr. SUMMERBELLasked the Prime Minister if he can state the number of Government Departments in which positions are filled through nomination, and the total number of such positions that can be filled by nomination; and whether it is the intention of the Government to arrange that in the future all such positions shall be filled through open competition, and thus enable the most efficient to be successful?
§ The PRIME MINISTERThere are in all Government Departments positions which are filled by nomination, but I cannot undertake to give the total number. If the hon. Member refers to first appointments, he will find full information on the subject, so far as relates to situations requiring a Civil Service certificate, in the Abstract of the Rules and Regulations respecting examinations for the Civil Service issued by the Civil Service Commissioners. Situations to which the holder is appointed by the Crown, or to which Section 4 of the Superannuation Act, 1859, applies, or which are filled in the customary course of promotion, do not require a Civil Service certificate. There is no intention of providing that such situations shall be filled by open competition.