Policy and Reform Minister Chris Thomas has rejected claims the removal of five GCSEs as a mandatory requirement to become a civil servant is dumbing down.

Defending the policy change, he pointed out that there was no such requirement for those at ’higher executive officer’ level and that, by changing the stipulation for five GCSEs from ’essential’ to ’desirable’, it gave the government a better chance of recruiting the right people.

He said: ’This is not about dumbing down, this is about skills and behaviours-based focus.’

Jason Moorhouse (Arbory, Castletown and Malew) raised the issue in the House of Keys on Tuesday, when he asked what evidence there was that reducing entry requirements to the civil service would increase the number of applicants without affecting the quality of work.

He referred to comments made in the UK over unconditional entry conditions by some universities, which were branded as undermining credibility and ’dumbing down’ institutions.

’The same thing could happen to our civil service,’ said Mr Moorhouse.

Mr Thomas said one of the reasons for the change made by the Public Services Commission was that the Office of Human Resources was seeking to ’remove any barriers’ to government as an attractive employer and to attract the ’widest range of quality applicants’.

The five GCSEs stipulation was previously in place for roles at entry level, administrative officer (AO), executive officer (EO) and secretarial grades. But Mr Thomas pointed out there had never been a requirement for five GCSEs at higher executive officer level or above.

’There is no evidence that not having specific qualifications is a hindrance to quality as the essential requirements are linked to the needs of the role,’ he said.

Five GCSEs was rarely a requirement in the private sector, the Minister added.

But Julie Edge (Onchan) said: ’I looked last night online to see what posts we had available.

’We had four AOs and three EOs.

’To me, that is not an excessive amount to start reducing entry qualification criteria.’

She said that previously a minimum of five GCSEs was the requirement for any grade of civil servant, including HEOs.

Ms Edge raised concerns about the ’calibre’ of candidates and queried where the ’pride’ in public service had gone for the entry requirements to have been downgraded without Tynwald approval being sought.

But Cabinet Office member Dr Alex Allinson (Ramsey) said the ’obsession with rigid school qualifications’ was unhelpful.