§ 40 and 41. Mr. W. Griffithsasked the Minister of Labour (1) to what extent when persons are appointed through his Department to temporary appointments in Government Departments there is any operation of a screening character; whether the individuals are informed when they are interviewed for appointment that they will be screened; and if they are informed in any case in which they are not appointed because of the result of the screening;
(2) how many candidates for temporary appointment in the Civil Service have been screened; and how many of them have failed to be appointed because of the screening.
§ Mr. Iain MacleodCharacter references are sought in the normal way by my Department for applicants for non-industrial temporary Government service. This is known beforehand to the candidate from the application form he completes, but it is not the practice to inform an unsuccessful candidate of the reason why he was not appointed. No statistics are kept of applications or rejections.
§ Mr. GriffithsCan the Minister say whether or not these so-called character investigations are the kind of investigations envisaged in the White Paper on security, introduced in March this year, and are any tests also made of a candidate's political opinions?
§ Mr. MacleodThe investigation is essentially a character one, and not a security screening, if one can put it like that. So far as the posts are concerned, there are obviously many—in the Post Office, for example—where large numbers of people have to be taken on and large sums of money may be involved, and a fairly detailed character investigation has, therefore, to take place. It is not in any way, normally, related to a man's political opinions.