have served for more than five years on the Island to get a permanent job.

The announcement follows the House of Assembly's acceptance of a motion by Shadow Home Affairs Minister Alex Scott -- after two attempts to table it.

Mr. Scott first tried on June 13 to table the motion -- which would have the House take note of changes to the Public Service Commission's appointment policies which were announced on June 8.

But his bid was shot down when a name vote in the House saw a 13-10 defeat for his request to suspend House rules which would have allowed for the debate.

And a second attempt last Friday also missed its mark as Mr. Scott did not advise the Clerk of the House of his intentions to give notice of the motion.

The Clerk found Mr. Scott's motion sitting on her desk ten minutes before the House was scheduled to start, revealed Speaker of the House Ernest DeCouto later.

House rules state that MPs giving notice of a motion should do so by handing a written or typed copy of the motion -- complete with that member's signature -- to the Clerk during a sitting of the House, or when the House was not sitting, during office hours, or should forward it to the Clerk by prepaid post.

Mr. DeCouto ruled that he could not accept the notice of motion, prompting a series of meetings between himself and Government and Opposition members.

Mr. Scott said this week that the motion went through late Friday following discussions with Mr. DeCouto who put the matter down on the Order Paper for today after Government agreed to the plan.

However it is not expected to be discussed until Friday.

The rule changes make provision for the Civil Service Commission to "recommend a non-Bermudian for appointment to an office for a term exceeding three years but not exceeding five years if either the Commission sees fit in the particular case or the officer in question is an officer in the Police Force''.

The amendment added: "Where a non-Bermudian has been employed for a period of not less than five consecutive years as an officer in the Police Force, the Commission may recommend him for permanent appointment to an established office in that force.'' Labour and Home Affairs Quinton Edness said the change was a precaution to cover bases for Government as it may have to look at a number of options to ensure continuity in the Police Service.

But Mr. Scott claimed the change in the rules governing civil service appointments could be a bid to sneak Police Commissioner Colin Coxall into a permanent job.

Mr. Edness insisted no decision on the future leadership of the service had been made although an extension to Mr. Coxall's contract was an option.

"Parliament should certainly discuss this and the impact this will have on the people who are supposedly being trained to be Commissioner,'' said Mr.

Scott.