§ 1. Mr. Onslowasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer why he has authorised a lowering of the minimal formal qualification for entry to the examination for clerical officer grade.
§ The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. John Diamond)There never have been such qualifications.
§ Mr. OnslowHow, then, does the Minister explain Press advertisements which say that normally the Civil Service Commission insists on five O-levels as a minimum qualification, but that now the standards have been lowered? Is he utterly indifferent to the watering down that this involves in the Cvil Service?
§ Mr. DiamondThe hon. Member is on an altogether different point. The Question related to qualification for entry to the examination. The Answer I gave was precise and accurate. The point that the hon. Member is now on deals with the time after a candidate has been taken on—quite a different situation. There is a seven months' study of the candidate's behaviour in employment, which is reckoned to be equivalent to one further O-level.