asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury the number of ex-Service men and women employed in a temporary capacity in the Civil Service; and what prospects they have of establishment.

I regret that the information asked for in the first part of the Question is not available centrally. As the reply to the second part of the Question is somewhat long, I will circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Is it not true that there may be 20,000 or 30,000 men who are employed temporarily, and cannot the right hon. Gentleman hold out some hope that they will receive permanent employment at some time?

As the hon. Gentleman will see when he gets HANSARD tomorrow morning, quite a large number of these vacancies are reserved for ex-Service men and women.

Following is the reply:

As to the general Civil Service classes (administrative, executive and clerical) 28,000 established vacancies which accrued during the war recently concluded are open to competition by ex-Service men and women, including those now serving in temporary Government employment; of that number 14,450 of the vacancies are reserved specifically for ex-Service men, and a number for ex-Service women in proportion to the number of candidates. In addition, service in His Majesty's Forces in the recent war is aggregated with temporary Government service for the purpose of qualifying for the 4,500 established vacancies which are open to older temporary staff by nomination, and for the further 10,000 posts (which are being converted to an established basis as from 1st January, 1948) which are open to long service temporary staff.