§ Q13. Sir Ian Orr-Ewingasked the Prime Minister how many of the 164 extra Press relations officers recruited to the Government information services since October, 1964, have been transferred from temporary to established civil servants.
§ The Prime MinisterThere is no such grade as Press Relations Officer in the Civil Service. I assume that the hon. Member is referring to figures given to the House on 17th March by my right hon. Friend the then Minister without Portfolio relating to the Information Officer Class, whose members carry out a wide range of departmental duties. In this class, as in several professional classes, recruitment is often initially on a temporary basis and the officers concerned may later become established following open competitions conducted by the Civil Service Commissioners, who are appointed by Order in Council and are not responsible to Ministers. Over the past five years 141 members of the Information Officer class recruited as temporaries since October, 1964, have subsequently been established along with some 97 recruited as temporaries before that date.—[Vol. 780, c. 10–12.]