COMMISSIONERS. (Hansard, 12 March 1940)

§ 52. Mr. Maxton
asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what function the Civil Service Commissioners are performing in the new procedure for recruiting civil servants from the Central Register?

§ Captain Crookshank
None, Sir.

§ Mr. Maxton
Is the Minister not aware that the Civil Service Commissioners will collect a very handsome sum in respect of examinations next year, and is he telling me that he is going to do nothing and that they will take that money by false pretences?

§ Captain Crookshank
Oh, dear me, no. The Question asked me was what they were doing in regard to the Central Register, which is quite another matter. The Central Register is in the very able hands of the Ministry of Labour, and it is therefore not necessary for the Civil Service Commissioners to deal with recruitment of that character.

§ Mr. Maxton
Did not the Minister tell me last week that the Civil Service Commissioners were not appointing civil servants, who were being appointed from the Central Register? What is the Civil Service Commission doing for the money that it proposes to collect next year?

§ Captain Crookshank
I remember the Question last week. The answer describing the work of the Civil Service Commissioners was so long that I had to circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT. Perhaps the hon. Member did not have time to read it.

§ Mr. Maxton
Is the right hon. and gallant Gentleman aware that not only have I had time to read it once, but that I have read it several times and could recite it to him? His answer dealt with what the Civil Service Commissioners did in the past and not with what they are doing now and will do in the future.