§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his policy is towards the recruitment practice of collective shortlisting without individual notes of assessments being taken and only a score or pass mark being recorded. [178103]
§ Mr. Paul MurphyRecruitment to the Northern Ireland Civil Service and to the Home Civil Service in Northern Ireland Office is carried out in accordance with Northern Ireland and Great Britain Commissioners' Recruitment Codes respectively. Collective shortlisting is not practised.
The Commissioners' codes state that those making appointments to the Civil Service must adhere to the following requirements:
applicants are considered equally on merit at each stage of the selection process;selection is based on relevant criteria applied consistently to all candidates;selection criteria are objective, reliable and guard against bias;applicants are aware which criteria will be used at eligibility sift stage;if it is considered that shortlisting may be necessary to reduce numbers to manageable proportions, applicants are aware which job criteria will be used and in what way.In order to adhere to the requirements it is the practice of the Civil Service that each application is examined and a determination made if the candidate satisfies each of the eligibility and if appropriate shortlisting criteria. Candidates who fail to satisfy one or more of the required criteria are offered feedback explaining the decisions reached.