§ Mr. Hoyleasked the Prime Minister if he will make available to hon. Members on request information relating to the degree of contact—as defined in paragraph 4250 of the establishment officer's guide regulations on the acceptance of outside business appointments by crown servants—between particular civil servants and specified companies with whom civil servants subsequently take up appointments.
§ The Prime MinisterNo.
§ Mr. Hoyleasked the Prime Minister if he will undertake, in the light of recent events, to apply his powers to refuse assent to, or impose conditions on, the acceptance of outside appointments by civil servants with more rigid adherence to the 510W spirit of the regulations and in particular in order to counter the widely held suspicions of impropriety.
§ The Prime MinisterI have applied and shall continue to apply the rules with the strictness required by their purpose.
§ Mr. Hoyleasked the Prime Minister if he will give examples of the degree of contact between a civil servant and an outside employer which would be sufficient to merit the subsequent refusal of an application for approval of an appointment of that civil servant by the outside employer at a later date.
§ The Prime MinisterI do not think this is possible. It must remain a matter of judgment.
§ Mr. Hoyleasked the Prime Minister how many applications have been considered by the advisory committee on the acceptance of outside business appointments by crown servants since 1 March 1974, and to how many civil servants they related; how many such applications were subsequently refused outright; how many made subject to each of the four conditions laid down in paragraph 4244 of the establishment officer's guide; how many were subject to other conditions; and how many were given unqualified approval.
§ The Prime MinisterThe advisory committee was established in 1975. The committee has considered applications in respect of 25 appointments from 11 home civil servants. Apart from one application on which no decision has been reached, all have been approved subject at least to the automatic three month waiting period. No conditions other than a waiting period have been imposed.