HC Deb 20 April 1955 vol 540 cc159-60
2. Mr. Malcolm MacPherson

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in view of the small numbers of recruits now drawn from any source except Oxford and Cambridge, what steps he intends to take to widen the sources of recruitment for the senior branch of the Foreign Service.

The Joint Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Mr. R. H. Turton)

The normal competition for the senior branch of the Foreign Service is open to anyone within certain age-limits who obtains a first or second-class honours degree at any recognised university or reaches an equivalent standard in a written examination. There is therefore no need to widen the sources of recruitment. Special competitions are also held for candidates over the normal age, for which a university education is not an indispensable qualification.

Mr. MacPherson

Is not the hon. Gentleman aware that out of a total of 426 appointments made to this branch since the end of the war 341, or rather more than three-quarters, have gone to graduates of Oxford and Cambridge, whereas 46, or rather less than one-eighth, have gone to graduates of London, the English provincial universities, the Scottish universities and two universities in Ireland together? None at all were graduates of the University of Wales or of such a provincial university as Manchester. Does he not realise that the Foreign Service is losing a great deal in not widening the scope of the recruitment to this branch?

Mr. Turton

The figures the hon. Member has given are quite accurate but unfortunately reflect the proportion of candidates for examination. Anything the hon. Member can do to encourage members of the Scottish or other universities to enter for the Foreign Service competition will be very welcome to my right hon. Friend.

Mr. Mott-Radclyffe

Would my hon. Friend say how many candidates from the universities other than Oxford and Cambridge sat for the examination? That is surely the crux of the matter.

Mr. Turton

The best way to deal with that is to give the number of candidates in the normal open competition in 1954. There were 138 from Oxford, 83 from Cambridge, 29 from London, 17 from other English universities and 20 from the Scottish universities.

Mr. Ernest Davies

Would it not be possible to make better known at the lesser universities the qualifications required and details of the examination, of which undergraduates at Oxford and Cambridge are made aware?

Mr. Turton

I do not quite understand what the hon. Member means by the "lesser universities," but I can assure him that the Civil Service Commissioners maintain close relations with all the universities and that each university appointments board is regularly informed by them of all Foreign Service competitions. I suggest that hon. Members interested in this matter should get in touch with the universities in or near their constituencies and point out to the authorities the very desirable careers that exist in the Foreign Service.

Mr. Godfrey Nicholson

Is it not the fact that not the least attention is paid to where the candidates are educated and that they are appointed purely on their merits? Does not the present very high reputation throughout the world of the Foreign Service, both here and in foreign countries, point to the success of the present methods?

Mr. Turton

I quite agree. We have a very high standard in the Foreign Service. We are quite sure that we get the best candidates, but let us have all the competition we can get.