§ Mr. BRIANTasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury (1) whether he would be prepared to allocate future vacancies in the Service to existing temporary women staff, as well as to young girls from outside; the Service; and whether he is aware that at the moment the women who have been temporarily employed for more than a decade have no opportunities whatever of becoming permanent employés, and are liable to dismissal by young girls at any moment;
(2) whether he will endeavour to mitigate the unemployment among Government staffs by arranging that young girls are not brought into the Service on to work now being satisfactorily performed by adult women?
§ Mr. R. McNEILLThe hon. Member would appear to have been imperfectly informed as to the facts of the case. Liberal opportunities have been given since 1920 to women temporarily employed in the Civil Service to qualify for permanent appointment to women's posts, and a large number of such appointments have been and are being made from their ranks. I do not consider that it would be in the public interest that recruitment by open com- 1829W petition should be suspended. I may add that, as stated in my reply on the l5th December to the hon. Member for Bow and Bromley (Mr. Lansbury), I am now considering representations which have been made to me on the general question of providing a greater measure of permanent employment for women still temporarily employed.