ABSTRACT
The dictionary definitions of ‘bias’ include inclination, prejudice and influence. The word can be used in a scientific or statistical sense – and it was in this sense that in 1977 Sir Douglas Allen, later Lord Croham, said he would not quarrel with its use to refer to aspects of recruitment in the civil service. In the context of selection in the British civil service the word has, however, become associated with considerable controversy. Allegations of bias in recruitment to the most senior levels in the British civil service have been most frequently associated with the educational system. Public interest and the interest of commentators, both academics and journalists, has focused in particular on the recruitment of graduates into administrative positions. Evidence to the MacDonnell Royal Commission, which reported in 1914, is illuminating because it revealed both the attitudes of the selectors and the views of those outside the establishment about the selection process.
