§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport on what basis the appeal board in the recent trawl for executive officers in the Glasgow vehicle registration office turned down candidates on appeal when those candidates had shown that the information given to the original sift panel was incorrect and produced additional information to support their applications. [32439]
§ Mr. NorrisThe original sift board had already taken a balanced view of the inconsistencies that it had identified between certain comments on some of the trawl application forms and the wider evidence available to it for reviewing at least three years' annual staff reports and the attendance records of all applicants.
The letter sent to unsuccessful candidates failed to make this clear. These should have explained that, given the high level of competition—15 candidates for two vacancies—only applicants with the strongest claim had been shortlisted for interview. Unfortunately, would-be appellants were instead led to believe that recent 171W comments of their line manager on their application forms had been paramount in deciding not to call them for interview.
The appeals board considered appeals from eight applicants, but in all but one case there was no significant new information which the original sift board had not already taken into account. The original shortlist of applicants to be interviewed increased from five to six.
Subsequently, at a meeting sought by officials of the Civil and Public Services Association on 3 June, the procedures of the sift and appeals board were explained to the satisfaction of those present. Exceptionally, it was agreed to increase the number of candidates to be interviewed for the two vacancies from six to eight, and a detailed letter of explanation was sent to the CPSA national official for distribution to his members at Glasgow vehicle registration office.
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what criteria were used by the sift panel in the recent trawl for executive officers in the Glasgow vehicle registration office. [32440]
§ Mr. NorrisThe sift panel considered 15 applications for the two executive officer vacancies at Glasgow vehicle registration office. It reviewed the information on the trawl application forms against the evidence of the applicants' annual staff reports and attendance report to establish those whose skills and personal qualities best matched the job descriptions in the trawl notice. The shortlist of five applicants originally selected for interview included two established executive officers from outside the VRO, as well as three administrative officers from within seeking to fill the vacancies on promotion.