§ Mr. David Nicholsonasked the Minister for the Civil Service at what age, in general, officials are promoted to the rank of assistant secretary and senior principal, respectively; and from what ranks or grades, in general, these promotions are made.
§ Mr. LuceAs a means of simplifying and streamlining the Civil Service grading system, unified grading was introduced for most senior levels of the service in the early 1970s. Unified grading was extended to the assistant secretary and senior principal levels on 1 January 1984 and further extended on 1 January 1986 to principal level. Assistant secretary now forms part of unified grade 5, senior principal is included in unified grade 6 and principal in unified grade 7.
Promotions into grade 5 can be made from both grade 6 and grade 7 level. Promotion into grade 6 are made exclusively from grade 7. For the years 1984–86 the average age of those promoted into grade 5 was (i) from grade 6, 47 years and (ii) from grade 7, 39 years. For the same period, the average age of promotions into grade 6 from grade 7 was 45 years.