§ Mr. GERALD HURSTasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether women are eligible for all higher posts in 1411W the Public Trustee Office; if so, whether women higher clerical officers have been allowed to deputise in higher posts now filled by men so as to prove their eligibility for consideration when vacancies occur; and, if not, how it is proposed to give these women higher clerical officers equality of opportunity?
§ The ATTORNEY-GENERALThere is no discrimination on the ground of sex, but eligibility for higher posts in the Public Trustee Office depends almost entirely on outside professional qualification or training. Arrangements for providing deputies for officers during absence are of an informal nature, depending on the particular circumstances of each individual case, and do not give a prior claim to consideration for promotion. The last part of the question does not, therefore, arise.