§ Mr. Stephen Rossasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the total cost of advertisements placed in all newspapers in each of the last five years in order to recruit employees for (a) the prison and borstal services and (b) the Home Office.
§ Mr. JohnThe following figures represent the cost of advertisements placed on behalf of my Department:
For posts in the prison service:
£ 1972–73 … … 302,376 1973–74 … … 340,054 1974–75 … … 381,595 1975–76 … … 168,703 1976–77(to date) … … 51,396 For posts elsewhere in the Home Office:
£ 1972–73 … … 345 1973–74 … … 8,478 1974–75 … … 13,267 1975–76 … … 26,766 1976–77 (to date) … … 9,766 They do not include the cost of advertisements placed on behalf of the Civil Service Commission for prison governors and other grades for whose recruitment the Commission is responsible.
§ Mr. Stephen Rossasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) 287W what criteria are applied when deciding what size of advertisement to insert in newspapers in order to recruit applicants for any specific job in (a) the prison and borstal service and (b) the Home Office;
(2) what criteria are applied to assess how much can be spent in advertising any post vacant in (a) the prison and borstal service, and (b) the Home Office.
§ Mr. JohnThe same criteria apply in relation to all posts where the Home Office is responsible for recruitment. They are economy; the urgency of need to fill the post; the state of the labour market and the degree of competition from other employers; the information which needs to be included; the requirement to ensure a fair and open competition; and the choice of the medium which is most likely to meet this requirement and attract applications.