HL Deb 27 July 1979 vol 401 cc2163-4WA
Lord INGLEWOOD

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What are the minimum number of O-levels or equivalent required for acceptance into—

  1. (a) the Civil Service in the lowest clerical grade; and
  2. (b) the Police Service as a probationer P.C. without the candidate being required to take a special entrance examination;
and what proportion of the latest intake for initial training at each of the eight police training centres—including Hendon—were admitted only after sitting for a special examination.

The PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE, HOME OFFICE (Lord Belstead)

Clerical assistants in the civil service must normally have two O-levels or equivalents. Police recruits must have four O-levels or equivalents or else must reach the prescribed level in the standard entrance test. Information for individual intakes to training establishments is not available, but the proportion of all recruits to forces in England and Wales who took and passed the test in 1977 was 57 per cent.; in 1978, 43 per cent.; and in the first three months of 1979, 39 per cent.