§ Mr. Garro Jonesasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he will make a statement showing the complete range of salaried appointments made to the public service during the last 12 months without effective competition?
§ Captain WallaceAppointments to the public service without recourse to competitive examination or selection are made in certain exceptional circumstances, for example, to professional or technical posts calling for highly specialised qualifications, or to posts in a service taken over by the State with the personnel428W already serving. Examples of- both these types occurred in 1938 and in so far as the posts are established, particulars will be given in the report which the Civil Service Commissioners will issue in due course for that year.
In addition it has been necessary during recent months, in connection with the expansion of the Defence Services, to make a number of special appointments of a purely temporary nature from among persons who have particular experience in the industrial, professional or scientific fields. Wherever practicable the competitive method of appointment has been employed; where it has been departed from, the public interest has been the governing consideration.
The preparation of a complete list of all such appointments would involve exhaustive local inquiries, especially by the Defence Departments, which I am reluctant to initiate in present circumstances.