Intervention Board Executive Agency (Hansard, 10 December 1996)

Lord Lucas

My honourable friend the Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has confirmed that there are systems in place in the Intervention Board to ensure that recruitment is carried out on the basis of fair and open competition and selection on merit, in accordance with the recruitment code laid down by the Civil Service Commissioners, and that these systems are subject to internal check.

During the 1995-96 financial year, the Intervention Board conducted three recruitment campaigns to appoint staff at Administrative Assistant, Administrative Officer, and Higher Executive Officer (Auditor) Levels. These exercises were conducted on the basis of fair and open recruitment and selections were made in each case on merit. The following statistical information on the competitions may help to put the exercise into context:

Administrative Assistant Competition

There were 37 applicants, of which:

	Applicants	Interviewees	Successful Candidates
Gender
Male	21 (57%)	20 (67%)	16 (69%)
Female	16 (43%)	10 (33%)	7 (31%)
Totals	37 (100%)	30 (100%)	23 (100%)
Ethnic Origin
White	31 (84%)	25 (83%)	19 (83%)
Black	1 (3%)	1 (3%)	1 (4%)
Asian	2 (5%)	2 (7%)	2 (9%)
Unknown	3 (8%)	2 (7%)	I (4%)
Totals	37 (100%)	30 (100%)	23 (100%)

There were no disabled applicants for this competition.

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Also, from the successful candidates, eventually only eight accepted appointments (of which one was a part-time appointment). Of these, six were male and two female, and of this group seven classified themselves as white and one as black.

Administrative Officer Competition

There were 69 applicants including 1 disabled, of which:

	Applicants	Interviewees	Successful Candidates
Gender
Male	37(54%)	24(62%)	20(61%)
Female	32(46%)	15(38%)	11(39%)
Totals	69(100%)	39(100%)	31(100%)
Ethnic Origin
White	56(82%)	33(84%)	26(84%)
Black	1(1%)	1(3%)	1(3%)
Asian	11(16%)	4(10%)	3(10%)
Unknown	1(1%)	1(3%)	1(3%)
Totals	69(100%)	39(100%)	31(100%)

Of the successful candidates, 11 accepted appointments and included amongst these was the disabled candidate. Also, of the 11, eight were male and three female, and all classified themselves as white.

Higher Executive Officer (Auditor) Competition

There were 19 applicants, of which:

	Applicants	Interviewees	Successful Candidates
Gender
Male	16 (84%)	3 (60%)	0 (0%)
Female	3 (16%)	2 (40%)	2 (100%)
Totals	19 (100%)	5 (100%)	2 (100%)
Ethnic Origin
White	14 (74%)	5 (100%)	2 (84%)
Black	3 (16%)	—	—
Asian	1 (5%)	—	—
Unknown	1 (5%)	—	—
Totals	19 (100%)	5 (100%)	2 (100%)

One application was received from a disabled individual for this competition. This applicant did not meet the minimum qualification criteria and therefore, was not invited for interview. The two successful candidates were subsequently appointed, both were female, and both classed themselves as white.

Finally, my honourable friend the Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food confirmed that no exceptions to the recruitment rules were made during the period to allow appointments to be made.