asked the Minister for Finance the cost of running a public competition for the post of executive officer in the Civil Service in each of the last three years for which such competitions were held; the breakdown of these costs for each year in terms of direct staff costs, examiners fees, cost of hiring halls, superintending of exams, attendants in halls, examination furniture, advertising, printing of papers, computer processing and travel and subsistence for superintendents, attendants and examiners.
Written Answers. - Cost of Public Competitions.
34.
The breakdown of costs of holding the last three open executive officer competitions open to "adult applicants" follows. The format of the three most recent executive officer competitions confined to school leavers did not include a written examination. Accordingly, none of the costs referred to below, with the exception of advertising and some printing, were incurred.
Staff costs in respect of these competitions cannot be quantified as staff engaged on such competitions were also engaged simultaneously on a variety of other work. Details of some other costs, including examiners' travelling and subsistence costs in 1987, advertising costs for each year, printing costs for 1987 and the costs of computer processing are simply no longer available.
Adult Executive Officer
|
1/83 |
3/85 |
1/87 |
|
|
£ |
£ |
£ |
|
|
Examiners Fees |
3,011.58 |
4,301.92 |
4,741.80 |
|
Travel and Subsistence |
|||
|
Examiners |
73.56 |
32.56 |
n/a |
|
Superintendents |
450.59 |
666.01 |
1,344.39 |
|
Attendants |
no cost |
no cost |
no cost |
|
Accommodation |
1,650.75 |
2,268.20 |
6,803.40 |
|
Superintendents Fees |
918.00 |
1,301.58 |
4,006.99 |
|
Attendants Fees |
260.00 |
105.60 |
125.32 |
|
Furniture |
217.90 |
1,172.16 |
5,999.01 |
|
Advertising |
not available |
not available |
not available |
|
Printing |
158.84 |
not available |
not available |
35.
asked the Minister for Finance the cost of running a public competition for the post of clerical officer in the Civil Service in each of the last three years for which such competitions were held; and the breakdown of these costs for each year in terms of direct staff costs, examiners fees, cost of hiring halls, superintending of exams, attendants in halls, examination furniture, advertising, printing of papers, computer processing, and travel and subsistence for superintendents, attendants and examiners.
The breakdown of costs of holding the last three open clerical officer competitions follows. It is not possible to supply all the information requested due to the absence of some records e.g. advertising costs for 1983 and 1984 and computer processing costs for each year.
Staff costs in respect of these competitions cannot be quantified as staff engaged on such competitions were also engaged simultaneously on a variety of other work.
|
Clerical Officer |
10/1983 |
10/1984 |
10/1986 |
|
£ |
£ |
£ |
|
|
Examiners Fees |
11,002.16 |
11,432.62 |
997.80* |
|
Travel and Subsistence |
|||
|
Examiners |
1,856.73 |
1,433.72 |
27.72 |
|
Superintendents |
2,954.03 |
3,116.41 |
4,988.18 |
|
Attendants |
no cost |
no cost |
no cost |
|
Accommodation |
7,156.95 |
7,337.69 |
7,142.94 |
|
Superintendents Fees |
8,356.24 |
7,696.62 |
11,463.93 |
|
Attendants |
875.15 |
184.80 |
626.30 |
|
Furniture |
7,285.67 |
10,249.09 |
3,084.58 |
|
Advertising |
not available |
not available |
10,560.00 |
|
Printing |
1,734.75 |
not available |
4,618.75 |
.fb *Format of written examination was changed resulting in significant savings in examiners fees. .fe
36.
asked the Minister for Finance the average cost of recruitment per candidate appointed to the post of executive officer and to the post of clerical officer in the Civil Service in each of the years from 1983 to 1989, inclusive.
I regret that records of costs are not kept in a manner which would enable the question to be answered in the format requested by the Deputy.
For example, an important element of the costs of these competitions, staffing costs, cannot be quantified retrospectively as staff engaged on such competitions are also engaged simultaneously on a variety of other work.
I should also point out that competitions for appointments as clerical officer and executive officer, which competitions also involve appointments to a variety of other grades, are not necessarily held on an annual basis. Work on such competitions can frequently extend over more than one calendar year and panels created following these competitions may last for some years. Accordingly, an average cost per recruit for each calendar year could be quite misleading. In any event, as stated above, the manner in which records are kept does not permit a breakdown in the manner sought by the Deputy.