DRAFT PRESS RELEASE
Enclosure A
The background to the present situation is that in April 1975 the Organisation and Methods Division of Finance Branch were invited by the Secretary for the Civil Service as part of their planned programme of organisational and work surveys to undertake a survey of secretarial and typing services throughout Government.
2.
The Assignment team undertaking the survey found that Departments were over-complemented in all Secretarial grades but particularly in those of Shorthand Audio Typist and Personal Secretary and that stenographic skills for which Government was paying a considerable premium were being 95% underused.
3.
The Assignment Team recommended to the Secretary for the Civil Service a significant expansion of pooling and sharing of secretarial and stenographic resources to achieve a fuller and more effective and economical use of secretarial capacity. The team furthermore recommended a change in the structure of the Secretarial Class by the introduction of a new supervisory grade to improve the quality and output of multi-grade pools which will in future contain both typists and stenographers.
4.
The Secretary for the Civil Service appointed a Committee of thirteen, including three senior members of the Secretarial Class to review the structure of the Class in the light of the proposals of O & M Division. He also directed the Pay Investigation Unit to carry out a survey of posts in the private sector comparable to those in Government with a view to establishing appropriate pay scales taking into account internal relativities for all grades of the Class.
5.
The report of the Committee on the Secretarial Class, as modified following staff consultation and as finally accepted by the Secretary for the Civil Service envisages a revised structure for each grade based upon general considerations, as below.
/GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS