§ Mr. MACLEANasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs the conditions under which appointments are made to the staff at the Foreign Office; whether they are open to competitive examination; and, if not, whether he will consider the revision of the conditions of appointment to ensure that such positions are open to competition?
Mr. LOCKER-LAMPSONThe examination for the Foreign Office and Diplomatic Service, which are now amalgamated, is competitive. It is held concurrently with the examination for the administrative class of the Home Civil Service, Indian Civil Service, Eastern Cadetships and the Colonial Services, and is identical with that examination except in so far as a high standard of qualification in certain modern languages is required from candidates for the Foreign Office and Diplomatic Service. Candidates for the Foreign Office and Diplomatic Service are required to1246W appear, previously, before a Board of Selection whose function it is to decide which candidates possess suitable qualifications. In 1919, the property qualification formerly required of candidates for the Diplomatic Service was abolished, in accordance with the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Civil Service of 1914.