HC Deb 11 July 1917 vol 95 cc1927-8W
Mr. C. DUNCAN

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether any members of the temporary Valuation staff (which came into existence in 1910) have been placed on the Civil Service establishment during the War, and, if so, the number of each grade of such staff; what steps are contemplated to carry out the recommendations of the Royal Commissioners on the Civil Service in their Fourth Report, dated the 2nd April, 1914, in regard to the position of unestablished staffs of the solicitors to the public Departments, in view of the fact that such unestablished staffs have been in existence many years prior to 1910, and also to the fact that the Committee on Public Retrenchment urged upon the late Government in their Report on the 21st February, 1916 (see Sections 17 and 45, first two paragraphs (see Cd. 8200), the need for such recommendations of the Royal Commissioners being carried out at the earliest possible, date; what are the reasons for differentiating between the two bodies of unestablished staffs in question; and whether the present Government can see their way to carry out such recommendations as above indicated?

Mr. BALDWIN

The permanent establishment of the Valuation office was fixed in 1912 at 457 technical and 123 clerical officers, and the number of these posts has not been altered during the War. With a view to securing the most competent officers, definite appointments, within this total, were not made immediately, but were filled gradually by selection among the temporary staff employed by the Department, the authorised establishment being completed in 1915. The position of the solicitors' staff is entirely different, as these men are not unestablished officers of the Department, but personal employés of the solicitors. The recommendation of the Royal Commission on the Civil Service in regard to their establishment has not been lost sight of, but it has been necessary to defer action on this, as on other proposals for the reorganisation of the service, until after the War. The hon. Member is, I think, mistaken in supposing that the Retrenchment Committee urged the late Government to take immediate action on this point.