§ Mr. William Clarkasked the Minister for the Civil Service how many Government vacancies have been advertised over the past six months in the local and national Press, giving for each Ministry the total number of separate advertisements and the total cost.
§ Mr. Charles R. MorrisThe Civil Service Commission, which is centrally responsible for Civil Service recruitment, advertised 313 separate recruitment competitions in January to June 1976, the latest period for which figures are available. These involved 1,030 separate insertions in the national, local and periodical Press at a total cost of £195,200. Many of these competitions were for multiple vacancies in a number of separate Government Departments. It is not, therefore, possible to break down the number of vacancies and the costs of advertising by Department without disproportionate expense. In addition, some areas of recruitment are delegated by the Civil Service Commission to Departments. In these cases there is no central information readily available about the numbers of vacancies or the Departmental costs of advertising.