Race training for all 30,000 civil servants at Home Office
ALL 30,000 civil servants in the Home Office are to undergo training to understand the history of migration and race in Britain, Priti Patel has announced.
The Home Secretary said every existing and new member of staff would be required to undertake the learning as part of a strategy to prevent a repeat of the Windrush scandal.
It follows a highly critical report that found the Home Office displayed aspects of “institutional racism” in the “ignorant and thoughtless” way it dealt with Windrush immigrants.
Speaking in the Commons, Ms Patel also promised a “full evaluation” of the hostile environment policy, announced by Theresa May as home secretary and aimed at making staying in the UK as difficult as possible for people who do not have leave to remain in the hope they will leave of their own accord.
Ms Patel said: “I am driving change to implement the important findings of the Lessons Learned review to make sure nothing like this can happen again.
“The action I have taken will ensure cultural change at the department, leading to more diverse leadership.
“I want the Windrush generation to have no doubt that I will reform the culture of the department so it better represents all of the communities we serve.”
There will also be a series of “reconciliation events” to help “rebuild the relationship” between the department and victims, Ms Patel said.
Acknowledging that there is a lack of diversity in senior leadership in the department, the Home Secretary said: “I have raised this at a senior management level in my own department that particularly with our own staff members
‘I want the Windrush generation to have no doubt that I will reform the culture of the department’
from black, Asian, minority ethnic communities, that are actually stuck at certain grades in my department. That is not acceptable at all, it really isn’t.”
Wendy Williams, the HM inspector of constabulary who drew up the report, will return to the Home Office in Sept 2021 to review progress.
“I am confident she will find the start of a genuine cultural shift within the department – a Home Office working hard to be more diverse, more compassionate and worthy of the trust of the communities it serves,” said Ms Patel.