§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Prime Minister how many secondments have been made to the Civil Service without satisfying the legal requirements of the Civil Service Order in Council 1982 in 1984–85, and in each of the preceding five years; and if she will list the secondments.
§ The Prime MinisterAs I explained to the House on 18 March in the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Erith and Crayford (Mr. Evennett) at column366–67 measures are being taken to ensure that secondments to the Civil Service from outside organisations are made in compliance with the Civil Service Order in Council. Details of the number of secondments to Government Departments in the period up to 1983 were published in a Report by the Management and Personnel Office, a copy of which was placed in the Library of the House. In 1984 (the last full year for which figures are available) there were 116 such secondments as follows:
Number MAFF 2 Cabinet Office (including Management and Personnel Office) 9 MOD 14 DES 2 Employment 7 Energy 12 DOE/DTp/PSA 15 ODA 4 OFT 1 Scottish Office 2 DTI 40 HM Treasury 5 Welsh Office 2 Registry of Friendly Societies 1 Secondments were made by the following organisations:
- Armitage & Norton
- Balfour Beatty
- Bank of England
- Barclays Bank
- Binder Hamlyn
- Boots
- British Aerospace
- British Gas
- British Petroleum
- British Rail
- British Telecom
708 - Building Societies Association
- CAA
- Cable & Wireless
- CAP Scientific
- CBI
- Central Electricity Generating Board
- Cleanaway
- Consep Ltd.
- Coopers & Lybrand
- Costains
- Dearden Farrow
- Deloitte Haskins & Sells
- Drivers Jonas
- Engineering Industrial Training Board
- Ferranti Electronics
- Fibreglass
- Financial Times
- Robert Fleming & Co.
- GEC
- Grimley & Son
- Hill Samuel & Co.
- IBM(UK)
- ICI plc
- ICL
- IMI plc
- Inco Europe
- King & Co.
- Lloyds Bank International
- Logica
- Lucas Industries
- Marconi: Underwater Systems
- Midland Bank
- Morgan Grenfell and Co.
- National Coal Board
- National Westminster Bank
- NIAB
- Pannell Kerr Forster
- Peat Marwick & Mitchell
- Phillips Industries
- Plessey Radar
- Price Waterhouse
- Racal Microsystems
- R H M Research
- Rolls Royce
- Rothschild & Sons
- Safety Reliability Directorate
- SC/CON
- Shell
- Smiths Industries
- W H Smith & Sons
- Software Sciences
- Spicer & Pegler
- Standard Chartered Merchant Bank
- Standard Telephones & Cables
- STL
- Swire and Sons
- Thomson McLintock & Co.
- Thornton Baker
- Touche Ross
- Vickers
- VSEL
- S G Warburg
- Westland
709 - Ernst Whinney
- Arthur Young McCelland & Moore & Co.
§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Prime Minister if she will list the measures now being taken in respect of secondments to the Civil Service to ensure compliance with the Civil Service Order in Council 1982; and if she will make a statement.
§ The Prime MinisterAs I made clear in my reply of 18 March to my hon. Friend the Member for Erith and Crayford (Mr. Evennett), the Civil Service Commissioners are devising procedures to ensure that future secondments are made in compliance with the Civil Service Order in Council 1982 and any regulations made thereunder. Secondments that are currently in train are being referred to the Civil Service Commissioners on an individual basis and they will consider all such cases against the background of the provisions and discretionary powers contained in the Civil Service Order in Council 1982.
§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Prime Minister who has been appointed to the Civil Service under section 1(2)(g) of the 1982 Order in Council in the current year and in the preceding six years.
§ The Prime MinisterThe Commissioners approved the following appointments under article 1(2)(g) of the Civil Service Order in Council 1982 or the corresponding article—1(2)(f)—of the 1978 Order in Council:
710W
Year* and Department Appointment 1979 DTI Regional Industrial Adviser DES Chairman, University Grants Committee Cabinet Office Research Officer FCO Head of Dependent Territories Section Cabinet Office Research Assistant FCO Specialist Supervisor Transport Four Highways Engineers from China Treasury Chief Economic Adviser 1980 MOD Telecommunications Traffic Officer A GCHQ A Director of Communications MOD Principal Professional and Technical Officer MOD Resident Judge Cyprus ODM Senior Scienctific Officer at Centre for Overseas Pests Research 1981 MOD Principal—Defence Sales MOD Director General of Intelligence MOD Head of Defence Sales DHSS Deputy Chief Scientist 1982 FCO Senior Research Officer DHSS Director Of Rickets Campaign DHSS Research Officer Departments of Industry and Trade Civil Aviation Safety Adviser Home Office Communications Officer MOD Chief Scientific Adviser MOD Chief Executive—Royal Ordnance Factories MOD Marketing Director—Royal Ordnance Factories 1983 MOD Chief Executive—Royal Dockyards MOD Six HEO/SEO Posts—Royal Ordnance Factories
Year* and Department Appointment DOE/PSA Director General of Design Services 1984 DHSS Computer Auditor Energy Chinese Linguist with Petroleum Experience 1985 MOD Chief of Defence Procurement * In which appointment approved under Article 1(2)(g) or 1(2)(f).
§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Prime Minister how many appointments to the Civil Service have been made without the issue of a certificate of qualification in each year since 1979; and under what provisions.
§ The Prime MinisterArticle 1(2) of the Civil Service Order in Council 1982 (a copy of which is in the Library) lists seven categories of appointment in the Home Civil Service or Diplomatic Service which do not require the prior issue of a certificate of qualification by the Civil Service Commissioners. The categories are:
- (a) Crown appointments;
- (b) Appointments filled by the transfer of staff by or in pursuance of an Act of Parliament which exempts such staff from the requirement to be certificated;
- (c) Appointments which terminate at the end of an Administration;
- (d) Part-time appointments normally involving less than 15 hours a week;
- (e) Appointments of one year or less;
- (f) Appointments in the grades included in the Schedule to the Order in Council;
- (g) Appointments not exceeding five years which the Civil Service Commissioners are satisfied it is desirable should be made without the issue of a certificate of qualification.
Details of special advisers appointed under 1(2)(c) were given to the hon. Member in my reply of 10 April 1984, since when there have been a further 10 such appointments. No appointment under 1(2)(b) has been made since 1979. Those appointments made under 1(2)(g) have been listed in a separate reply to the hon. Member. The remaining categories cover a wide range of circumstances, including many thousands of staff recruited locally by Departments, including casual and part-time staff, on which information is not held centrally.