§ Lieut.-Commander ASTBURYasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether it is proposed to allocate the same proportion of higher to lower posts to women as to men in the proposed regrading of the clerical classes; and, if not, seeing that women have long proved themselves as efficient clerical officers as men and that the work of the clerical grades, male and female, is now standardised throughout Government Departments, on what is the differentiation based?
Mr. YOUNGIt is not proposed to fix a proportion of higher to lower posts either for men or women in the regrading of the clerical classes in Government Departments. The second part of the question does not therefore arise.