§ Mr. DENNISONasked the Minister of Health what is the number of women clerical officers at present classified A or above average for promotion purposes in his Department?
§ Mr. BENNETTasked the Minister of Health what is the number of women clerical officers at present classified A or above average for promotion purposes in his Department?
§ Mr. NEVILLE CHAMBERLAINThe number of women clerical officers employed in my Department who are at present classified A or above average for promotion purposes is seven.
§ Mr. FORRESTasked the Minister of Health whether he can give any reason for the low percentage of writing assistants employed by his Department who have been classified as above average as compared with the percentage prevailing throughout the service as a whole; whether he is aware that the average educational standard of the writing assistants concerned is as high as that found in other Departments, and that large numbers of the girls have already proved their fitness for clerical duties in other Departments; and whether, in view of the dissatisfaction arising from the low classification given by his Department, he will have an investigation made into the methods adopted in the Ministry of Health for the classification of writing assistants in connection with promotion?
§ Mr. CHAMBERLAINI am not in a position to compare the percentage of writing assistants classified as above average for promotion in my Department with that in other Departments in the public service. Writing assistants are recruited by examinations common to the whole Service, and the average educational standard is, therefore, presumably uniform throughout the Service. I am glad to say that a number of officers of this grade have received promotion in recent years, and a further number are now on trial on clerical duties. I am not prepared to agree that a low classification has been adopted by the Department, and3008W I have no reason to suppose that there is any ground for dissatisfaction as to the methods pursued.