§ 62. Mr. Leonardasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that the Civil Service Commission is proposing to hold an examination in Belfast for clerical assistants when there are several girls in this country in that 1452 grade whose home is in Belfast and who have expressed a desire to get back there; and whether the Civil Service Commission have a settled policy in determining the number of vacancies which shall be filled by transfer and the number filled by examination?
§ Captain WallaceYes, Sir. The prescribed method of recruitment to the clerical assistant class is by local competitive examination, since the class is intended for girls whose homes are within easy daily travelling distance of the towns in which they are employed. Departments having offices in certain towns have made arrangements under which a proportion of the vacancies in those towns are filled by transfer of clerical assistants already serving elsewhere in the Department, and some of the vacancies in Belfast are being filled in this way. The question of filling vacancies by internal transfer is one for the Department concerned, not for the Civil Service Commission.