§ Mr. LANSBURYasked the President of the Board of Trade whether one of the two staff posts created in the central office of the Labour Exchanges Department has been filled by the appointment of an officer who has been in the service of the Board less than a year, and who was originally appointed as a manager of a Class 3 Exchange at a little over half the present salary; and whether it is to be the practice to fill the higher posts of the central office in this indirect manner to the exclusion of Civil servants, for whom promotion in the Board is already sufficiently scarce?
Mr. BUXTONThe officer to whose appointment my hon. Friend appears to refer applied at the same time as other candidates for a Labour Exchange appointment, but was abroad when the first selection of applicants was made. In April, 1910, ho was appointed to the central office with the rank of a Class C manager, and, as a result of his work, he was promoted to fill one of the two staff posts created in December last, the other being filled by an established Civil servant. The claims of Civil servants to promotion in the Labour Exchanges branch always receive full and careful consideration when suitable vacancies occur.
§ Mr. LANSBURYasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will furnish the House with a list of the staff of the central office of the Labour Exchanges Department, distinguishing between those who entered the service of the Board by means of open competitive examinations under the auspices of the Civil Service Commissioners, and those who were appointed by the President under the Labour Exchanges Act; whether he will show the relative positions of these two classes of public servants in regard to salaries and seniority; and whether there is anything in the nature of the duties performed by those who were appointed by the President which renders the work unsuitable for Civil servants appointed through the medium of the Civil Service Commissioners?
Mr. BUXTONI will circulate with the Votes a list giving the particulars desired by my hon. Friend with regard to the central office of the Labour Exchanges. The great majority of the staff of the Labour Exchanges are unestablished officers, and it was not found possible to recruit this staff by the method of com- 1677W petitive examination. The whole question is under careful consideration.