§ Mr. RAPERasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether His Majesty's Government will seriously consider the position of ex-service men temporarily employed in the Civil Service with a view to inducing the permanent heads of Departments to carry out the recommendations of Lord Lytton's Committee regarding substitution in letter and in spirit; whether about 2,000 ex-service men have been discharged or are under notice while there are 4,600 sub-stitutable posts admitted by the Joint Substitution Board to be available; and if the process of substitution can be expedited with a view to the reinstatement of the ex-service men mentioned at a very early date?
Mr. YOUNGI can assure my hon. Friend that the recommendations of Lord Lytton's Committee are being carried out in letter and in spirit throughout the Civil Service. I am aware that the number of ex-service men on the books of the Joint Substitution Board for whom it has not yet been possible to find fresh employment is at present about 2,000. The 4,500 women who were estimated a month ago to remain in substitutable posts were in many cases employed on work which was rapidly terminating and their replacement by new personnel on the eve of the completion of their tasks would be extremely wasteful. In other cases substitution by ex-service men was and is proceeding as rapidly as is consistent with the efficient conduct of the business of the Departments, in view of the fact that these women are the residue left of a much larger number by a continuous and severe process of substitution. The number is estimated to have now been reduced from 4,500 to 3,500.