Customs and Excise Service (Promotions).

HC Deb 17 August 1916 vol 85 cc2088-9W

Mr. C. DUNCAN

asked the Secretary to the Treasury what were the abnormal circumstances obtaining on the occasion of the last selections for promotion to the controlling grade in the amalgamated Customs and Excise service which necessitated the promotion of eleven surveyors, of whom ten were ex-Excise supervisors who had not reached a salary of £400, in view of the recommendation of the Hobhouse Committee contained in paragraph 210 of their Report, to which an existing member of the Board of Customs and Excise was a signatory, that promotions to the controlling grade should normally be made from those surveyors who have passed the efficiency bar at £400, and in view of the fact that at least nineteen of the sixty-five eligible surveyors who had passed the bar had been favourably reported on by their superior officers and only three were promoted?

Mr. McKINNON WOOD

The abnormal circumstances which required the selection of surveyors with salaries of less than £400 for promotion to the controlling grade was that the number of surveyors with salaries above £400 who had reached the standard necessary for promotion to the highest grade in the service, was insufficient. This will be remedied automatically in a year or two.

Mr. DUNCAN

asked whether the special reports of superior officers on the qualifications for promotion to the controlling grade of the sixty-five eligible surveyors of Customs and Excise who had passed the efficiency bar at £400 on the 1st September, 1915, were only sufficiently favourable in nineteen cases to justify an invitation to attend the selection committee; and, if not, may it be expected that invitations will be issued to some of the remaining forty-six on the occasion of the next selection?

Mr. McKINNON WOOD

It is essential to select the best men for the highest grade in the Service. The fact that a man has not been called up in his turn does not necessarily mean that he is passed over for good, but it does generally mean that there must be some exceptional reason to warrant his being called up later on. It is clearly impossible to give any promise beforehand.