Overseas Recruitment (White Paper) (Hansard, 29 May 1962)

§ 7. Mr. Skeet
asked the Secretary for Technical Co-operation if he will make a statement on the overseas recruitment work of his Department.

§ Mr. Vosper
Yes, Sir. I am issuing a White Paper on this subject, copies of which will be available this afternoon.

§ Mr. Skeet
Is my right hon. Friend aware that the House will welcome the publication of the White Paper? May I ask him whether it will show a continued need for overseas service?

§ Mr. Vosper
Yes, Sir. The White Paper will show a continued need for overseas service on the part of people from this country. It will, however, show that that service, in the main, in the future will be of a short-service variety for a wide variety of specialised occupations, and will not, on the whole, provide for the full career service which was customary in the past.

§ Mr. G. M. Thomson
Will there be a continued need for those officers at present serving overseas? Does not the right hon. Gentleman agree that the greatest need is for agricultural and veterinary officers, and that, at the moment, these experts are flooding out of Africa because of the lack of some sort of scheme of continuity which would allow them to go on beyond the point of independence?

§ Mr. Vosper
I should like the hon. Member to read the White Paper, when he will see the arguments fully deployed there. Any officers coming back from overseas for whom there is a continuing demand will be certain of receiving employment, but the trouble is that the requests I am receiving do not always coincide with the terms of service of existing officers.

§ Mr. Tilney
May I ask my right hon. Friend whether he will bear in mind that the neglect shown to those who have served overseas in the past may be detrimental to recruiting in the future?

§ Mr. Vosper
I am well aware of my hon. Friend's interest in this subject, and I have that matter very much in mind.