Civil Service (Hansard, 21 May 1998)

§ Mrs. Beckett

It is DTI policy that recruitment is carried out on the basis of fair and open competition and selection on merit, subject to the exceptions permitted by the Civil Service Commissioners. My Department has systems in place which ensure that the principles of fair and open competition are understood and followed, in

Recruitment information Number of staff recruited 1 January 1997 to 31 December 1997
						Gender	Ethical background
Grade	Permanent	FTA	Recurring temp	Standby	Short notice	Other	Male	Female	White	Ethnic minority	Not stated	Disability
Grade 6	—	—	—	1	—	—	1	—	¹—	¹—	¹—	—
Grade 7	4	1	—	2	—	—	5	2	7	—	—	—
Higher Executive Officer	8	2	—	—	—	—	5	5	8	—	2	1
Executive Officer	4	2	2	—	—	—	4	4	8	—	—	1
Administrative Officer	11	2	2	—	—	31	22	24	34	7	5	1
Administrative Assistant	4	8	—	—	—	12	12	12	17	4	3	1
HEO D	6	—	—	—	—	—	5	1	6	—	—	—
HSO D	2	—	—	—	—	—	1	1	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Legal Trainee	1	—	—	—	—	—	1	—	¹—	¹—	¹—	—
Legal Officer	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	¹—	¹—	¹—	—
Assistant Librarian	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	¹—	¹—	¹—	—
Support Grade Band 2	—	2	—	—	—	—	2	—	¹—	¹—	¹—	—
Assistant Economists	6	—	—	—	—	2	6	2	8	—	—	1
Assistant Statisticians	2	—	—	—	—	2	3	1	¹—	¹—	¹—	1
Senior Research Officer	—	1	—	—	—	—	1	—	¹—	¹—	¹—	—
¹ includes numbers of casuals and sandwich course students

Notes:

1. ethnic data have been suppressed for those grades where numbers recruited are 5 or less, to avoid the possibility of identifying individuals

2. from 1 August 1997, the department's grades became expressed as pay ranges. For consistency, we have used grades for this exercise. Information will be presented as Ranges next year

The number of occasions on which the permitted exceptions to fair and open competition and selection on merit have been used at each level (except for appointments of up to 12 months), are categorised as below. Please include details of any exceptions underneath the relevant category: extensions of appointments of up to 12 months up to a maximum of 24 months: none recurrent short term appointments

1 EO former civil servant brought in for a few weeks at a time when needed
2 AOs and 1 EO in Queens Award Office where the work is seasonal

short term appointments where highly specialised skills are required: 2 Grade 7s and 1 Grade 6 on standby appointments, I Grade 7 on a fixed term contract. All were for specialist posts that would have been difficult to recruit from industry and it was regarded as too expensive to employ consultants extensions of short term appointments beyond the initially publicised period, including conversions to permanency: 1 EO on a fixed term contract and 1 AO casual appointment converted to permanency secondments: none extensions to secondments: none re-appointment of former civil servants:

1 Grade 7 previously employed by Crown Prosecution Service
1 AO now employed on a fixed term contract
2 EOs and 2 AOs on recurrent temporary appointments

transfers of staff with their work (not under TUPE): 1 AA, 3 AOs, 4 HEOs transferred from Cabinet Office with their work

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accordance with the provisions of the Civil Service Commissioner's Recruitment Code. These systems are subject to internal check by The DTI's Internal Audit and to external check by the Commissioner's approved auditors.

The DTI's Executive Agencies and the Government Office network make separate arrangements for publishing recruitment data, and the following table and narratives describe only Headquarters recruitment:

transfers of staff from other public services without work (unless from a public body staff exclusively by civil servants): None appointments of disabled candidates under modified selection arrangements any use of the exceptions reserved for the Commissioners: None.