Derek McDowell (Labour)

This is a very important amendment. What is being done in the Bill contrasts with Government and ministerial policy as stated over a number of years. Under the strategic management initiative, the Government has always said that it liked the idea of people taking a few years out to go into the private sector and coming back to the public sector. I can think of a whole range of professional jobs within the public sector where people get a certain experience and want to go away, sometimes to make money, sometimes to gain greater experience which will ultimately be of benefit to the public service if they choose to come back. We should be actively creating opportunities and encouraging people to take five or six years out because it is of benefit not just to the individual but to the public service.

I wonder how a provision such as this, which is a clear disincentive to people to take a few years out, sits with all the rhetoric we have heard from the Minister for Finance over the years about cross-stream mobility and the sharing of experience and so on. I do not see that the two sit together.