§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the report in The Guardian of 18th March 1996 is correct in stating that Irish and Commonwealth citizens are to be banned from applying for up to 125,000 Civil Service jobs from June 1996; if not, whether the Government will state what is the accurate position and the reasons for any proposed change in policy.
Earl HoweTheGuardian article to which the noble Lord referred was correct in stating that Irish and Commonwealth citizens are to be excluded from applying for certain Civil Service posts. The article was no doubt prompted by the following statement made in another place by my right honourable friend, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 1st March:
"The European Communities (Employment in the Civil Service) Order 1991 brought UK law into line with European Community requirements, by permitting nationals of other member states to apply for certain civil service posts, but a number of anomalies remain. One of these is that citizens of the Republic of Ireland (and of Commonwealth countries) are currently eligible for recruitment to a wide range of posts in the Home Civil Service, including those which constitute "employment in the public service" (in EC Treaty terms), whereas nationals of other European Economic Area countries are only eligible for those posts which do not constitute such employment. It is clear that we need to amend the current rules. Recruitment schemes with closing dates for the receipt of applications on or after 1st June 6WA 1996 for posts which constitute "employment in the public service" will therefore be reserved for United Kingdom nationals and will not be open to Irish or Commonwealth citizens. Applications from citizens of these countries will from 1st June be treated on the same basis as those from citizens from other European Economic Area countries. The change will not affect the position of citizens of the Republic of Ireland and of Commonwealth countries already in post on 31st May 1996. Neither will it affect the position of candidates from those countries for recruitment schemes with a closing date for the receipt of applications before 1st June 1996.
My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is making arrangements for changes to the rules for entry to the Northern Ireland Civil Service which will achieve the same position there in the same timescale."
There are about 132,000 posts in the Home Civil Service in the "reserved" category, amounting to about 25 per cent. of the total. Many of these will not be direct entry posts. Citizens of the Republic of Ireland and of the Commonwealth will continue to be eligible for recruitment to about 75 per cent. of Civil Service posts.