§ Mr. Nicholas Bakerasked the Minister for the Civil Service what representations he has received about the different criteria applying for early retirement of industrial and non-industrial Civil Service staff under the Government's job release scheme; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HayhoeWhen the job release scheme was introduced in 1977, the Civil Service did not have to meet the Department of Employment's replacement conditions in full. On 1 April 1982, however, the replacement conditions in the public and private sectors were brought into line. It was always recognised that this change would reduce the extent to which JRS could operate in the Civil Service and a number of representations, notably from hon. Members on behalf of disappointed constituents and from the trade union side, have been received. The Management and Personnel Office has recently circulated revised guidance to departments about the application of JRS in the Civil Service. This takes account of the difficulties which some Departments had experienced in operating the scheme under the earlier arrangements, and of the comments made by the Select Committee on Social Services in its third report in Session 1981–82. The operation of JRS in the Civil Service is governed by a
112W
§ Mr. Gummer[pursuant to the reply, 28 April 1983, c. 422]: The following table gives the figures for registered unemployed at January each year from 1979 to 1982 and the figures for unemployed claimants at January 1983, the latest available.
uniform body of rules applying to industrial and non-industrial civil servants and I am not aware of any representations which have suggested otherwise.