Miss Wardasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if, in regard to the recruitment of ex-Servicewomen into the Civil Service, he will further define the proposals, in particular, stating what percentage of the proportion it is proposed to allocate.
§ Sir J. AndersonThe proposal in the Report of the Committee of the Civil Service National Whitley Council (Cmd. 6567) is in effect that ex-Servicewomen should have reserved to them a proportion of the vacancies in each class appropriate to the number of qualified candidates coming forward from the Women's Services. It is not possible to say what percentage of the available vacancies this will reserve until the number of candidates coming forward is known.
Miss Wardasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what special arrangements he proposes to make in order that prisoners of war may compete in the reconstruction competitions for entry to the Civil Service.
§ Sir J. AndersonThe Report published in Cmd. Paper 6567 contemplates that competitions for Civil Service posts, which are to be open to all men and women who have missed their chance of competing for the Civil Service during the war, will extend over a period of several years, in 1071W order to ensure that those who are released last from the Armed Forces have as good an opportunity as those who are released first. This will apply as much to the return of prisoners of war as to the release of men from the Forces. But, in addition, the Committee recommend that specially sympathetic consideration should be given to the position of prisoners of war; and the Civil Service Commission will make arrangements to ensure that no ex-prisoner of war is obliged to take the examination until he has had full time to recover and, if necessary, to prepare himself after his return.