Civil Service (Hansard, 13 March 1995)

§ Mr. Horam

The Command Paper "The Civil Service: Taking Forward Continuity and Change (CM 2748)" indicated the Government's intention to reinforce the principle of selection on merit and to enhance the role of the independent civil service commissioners. The approval of the Privy Council is currently being sought to a revised civil service Order in Council to give effect to these new recruitment arrangements. Copies will be placed in the Library of the House.

From 1 May 1995 the civil service commissioners will be responsible for interpreting the fundamental principle 383W of selection on merit on the basis of fair and open competition for all civil service recruitment, including the circumstances in which exceptions to the principle can be made within the parameters of the Order in Council; publishing a simple, but binding, recruitment code; auditing departments' and agencies' systems for compliance with their recruitment code and publishing on account of their audit in their annual report. They will continue to approve appointments from outside the civil service to the new senior civil service, but not to appointments immediately below that level and to the fast stream entries. Such appointments, like all other recruitment, will be subject to the commissioners' new recruitment code.

Departments and agencies will be required to publish information about their recruitment systems and their use of the permitted exceptions to fair and open competition. This will make information available publicly about recruitment to the civil service and the extent to which exceptions to the recruitment principle are made, apart from very short-term appointments.

Making these changes now does not, of course, prejudice the commitment in the Command Paper to consider legislation on the civil service to put the powers of the civil service commissioners and the Minister for the Civil Service on a statutory basis at a later date.