HC Deb 14 March 1919 vol 113 cc1615-6W
Mr. MARRIOTT

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether his attention has been drawn to the case of Civil servants who volunteered for the Army and who, on demobilisation, will find themselves at a relative disadvantage with other Civil servants who have not been serving in the Army; whether it would not be possible to offer promotion, suitable to their standing in the Service, to the former without requiring them to submit to a competitive examination, in which owing to Army service they must be at a disadvantage; and whether it would be possible to reserve suitable positions in the new Government Departments for ex-soldiers who were formerly in the Civil Service?

Mr. BALDWIN

I am sending my hon. Friend a copy of the Treasury Circular of 29th January last relative to the filling of posts in the new Departments, from which he will see that permanent Civil servants who have served in His Majesty's Forces are eligible for selection to posts in those Departments superior in status and emoluments to their substantive posts in the Service. I may add that it is open to a Civil servant who has served in the forces and who satisfies the conditions in other respects to compete under the Reconstruction Scheme for recruiting the Civil Service after the War. The examinations under this scheme are qualifying, not competitive.