§ Mr. Pattieasked the Minister for the Civil Service how many applications to the Civil Service have been rejected on the grounds of the applicant's political affiliations in each of the last 10 years; and what were these political affiliations.
§ Mr. Charles R. MorrisThe Civil Service Commissioners are required to examine the qualifications of all candidates for permanent appointments to the Civil Service without regard to their political affiliations, race or religion, and they could not, therefore, reject an application on any of these grounds.
It has, however, been the policy of successive Governments since 1948 that no persons may be employed in the Civil Service in connection with work the nature of which is vital to the security of the State if they are, or have recently been, members of the British Communist Party or of a Fascist organisation; or if, in such a way as to raise legitimate doubts 511W about their reliability, they are or have recently been sympathetic to Communism or Fascism. This is made clear to all candidates in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment literature.
These restrictions relate to the work of certain Departments, and of certain posts in other Departments, and are the responsibility of the Ministers in charge of those Departments. There is no central record of departmental decisions of this kind.