§ Sir A. HOLBROOKasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in order to provide regular employment for ex-service men, he will consider the issue of Regulations providing that competent ex-service men of all gradings employed in a temporary capacity in the Civil Services shall be absorbed into the permanent classes without examination and that 70 per cent. of future vacancies shall be given to ex-service, temporaries until all competent ex-service men have been absorbed?
§ Mr. BALDWIN:The Lytton Committee gave careful consideration to the question of the appointment of ex-service men to permanent posts in the Civil Service, and in its First Interim Report laid down that some form of examination was neces- 537W sary to test the relative efficiency of temporary personnel for selection for permanent posts and that any proposal to invite heads of Departments to recommend for retention those officers whom they considered efficient would prove unsatisfactory. In addition the Committee, in its Third Report, proposed that ex-service candidates who could show that their failure to reach even the qualifying standard at the special limited competitions was due to exceptional circumstances should, provided the head of their Department was willing to certify that they were specially competent to carry out the whole of the duties likely to be required of the clerical class, be entitled to have their eases reconsidered by an Investigating Board, who would decide whether or not to recommend the applicants for permanent appointment.
Action has been taken in accordance with the Committee's recommendations. The Committee further recommended that 70 per cent. of the vacancies in the clerical class should until 1st July, 1922, be reserved for ex-service candidates and that thereafter the proportion should be reduced to 50 per cent. The Treasury has extended the period proposed by the Committee until 1st April, 1923, and it is probable that after that date the percentage will be increased rather than decreased until such time as all qualified ex-service candidates have been absorbed.