§ Lord Boyd-Carpenterasked Her Majesty's Government:
What progress has been made to extend unified grading in the Civil Service to Principal level.
§ Lord BelsteadI am pleased to say that following the announcement made by my right honourable friend the then Minister of State for the Treasury on 26th July 1985, arrangements are now being made with effect from 1st January 1986 to bring a further 11,000 staff in a wide variety of grades at Principal level into a new unified grade in the Open Structure. This change removes formal barriers between different occupational groups and classes at this level, making it easier for management to select people for jobs on the basis of merit alone irrespective of their background or method of entry into the service.
The necessary cost of assimilating staff to the new structure, including appropriate transitional arrangements, will be met from within departments' planned running costs limits.