Vol. 500 No. 2
161 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government when the commitments in Partnership 2000 to employ, on a permanent basis, professional staff who are employed through temporary contracts will be implemented; and if these appointments will be made through the Local Appointments Commission or by the individual local authorities. [3760/99]
In negotiations with staff representatives under clause 2(iii)A of annex 1 to the Programme for Competitiveness and Work, it was agreed that certain long-term temporary engineering and cognate professional posts in the local authority service would be examined with a view to classifying them as permanent posts and that a strategy would be developed for their filling having regard to the number of engineers and cognate professional staff in long-term temporary employment in the local authorities.
Discussions which have been going on with the staff side representatives on the mechanisms for implementing this agreement have not yet concluded.
