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4.25
4.25
4.25.1
TESTIMONIALS: ENQUIRIES FROM PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYEES
All replies to requests for references should include a statement that the officer concerned was in the service of a certain Territory or Territories. The dates of appointment, transfers, promotions and, if applicable, retirement should be given. The grounds for retirement should also be included. Where there is nothing on record to the detriment of the officer concerned, information may be provided without seeking his prior consent.
4.25.2 Where an officer's reports are not entirely satisfactory (including cases of misconduct), the
following action is taken:
Government Departments and bodies recruiting on behalf of Commonwealth Governments. These may be provided with full information about the officer without reference to the officer himself except for medical history (see para 4.25.3). The draft should be prepared on the basis of the reports available and should be seen by the Appointments Officer concerned and if possible by the appropriate Adviser.
For all other enquiries, the officer's written consent must first be obtained before a reference is provided. Any statement by the enquirers that the officer has given them his consent should be ignored. When the officer has given his consent, a draft should be prepared and circulated. In cases where an officer has been convicted of a criminal offence due regard must be paid to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. This Act provides that if an offender remains free of further conviction for a specified period (the "rehabilitation period") he becomes, at the end of that time, a "rehabilitated person" and his conviction becomes "spent". The Act further provides a degree of protection for a rehabilitated person as regards disclosure of his spent conviction. Information given to any prospective employer regarding an officer who has a previous conviction should first be checked by Legal Advisers. Where it is clear that the termination of an officer's appointment was due to lack of adaptability to the atmosphere and circumstances of an overseas administration and not to defects of character which are likely to tell against him in other circumstances, the position should be made clear to the enquirer.
4.25.3 When a prospective employer asks for a general indication of the health of the officer during his service, there is no objection to this being stated as good or satisfactory where reports indicate that this has been the case; if nothing is known of an officer's health, the prospective employer should be informed accordingly. If the officer's health has clearly been unsatisfactory, no reply should be sent to the general enquiry. If a further enquiry is received from the prospective employer, it should be dealt with as follows:
Where there is some doubt whether an officer's health has been satisfactory, one of the Medical Advisers should be consulted. If no information about an officer's general health is sought by a prospective employer, none should be supplied.
Where a prospective employer asks for information about an officer's medical history, even when the enquirer is another Government Department or a body recruiting on behalf of a Commonwealth Government, the officer's written consent to the information being given must first be obtained. When his consent has been given, the
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