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Departmental Secondment

Volume 479: debated on Monday 21 July 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what procedures her Department uses to ensure equal opportunities in relation to staff secondments to the Department. (214713)

When arranging inward secondments, the Home Office operates a selection policy for appointment on merit on the basis of fair and open competition, in accordance with the guidance set down in the Civil Service Commissioners' Recruitment Code. The exception to this policy of fair and open competition—an exception which is allowed under the code—is where there is an urgent business need to fill a post and an individual is known to have the skills and experience required for the role. In these cases, the secondee can be appointed without a fair and open competition process, but the secondment period is expected to be limited to a period of 24 months or less.