Civil servants’ training says rolling your eyes is racist

CIVIL servants are being told that rolling their eyes or looking at their mobile phones can be evidence of sexual or racial discrimination, as part of controversial diversity training.

Public officials have instead been trained to nod their heads to promote transparency and inclusion.

More than £160,000 has been spent by the Government since 2021 hiring consultants to train staff to spot “microaggressions”, a report by The Times claims. But feedback from trainees has been scathing, with most saying they did not enhance their knowledge.

There is scarce research into whether interventions to reduce microaggressions in the workplace are effective.

The government body responsible for monitoring the value of spending in schools, the Education and Skills Funding Agency, spent more than £1,000 per worker on microaggressions training for a handful of staff.

Recently, a British woman of Indian descent complained she was the victim of racial discrimination when bosses raised their eyebrows at each other while she was talking. She lost her case. Official training sessions in microaggressions began in 2021, according to figures released by the Cabinet Office under freedom of information laws.

The most enthusiastic branches of government have been the Department for Transport, which spent £64,807, and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), a regulatory body, which spent £61,776. Berkshire Consultancy, which has been teaching staff from the CMA, claims that microaggression was specifically aimed at minorities to discriminate against them.

The DWP spent £13,728 on microaggressions training for 45 digital staff, with its main suppliers being the consultancies KPMG and Ernst and Young. The feedback was overwhelmingly negative.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “We offer a range of learning and development opportunities to give staff the skills they need to succeed in their roles but now make clear that courses must be assessed for value for money, and clear justifications must be provided for procuring learning and development activity.”