Whitehall’s ‘woke’ rules extend to the pub
Discussing work over a social drink could lead to discrimination, say race awareness guidelines
‘The choice has been made to ensure the views and ideas of the majority cultural group prevail’
‘Adopting a quota-filling box-ticking approach exacerbates division and creates an ‘‘us and them’’ culture’
PUB socials could amount to discrimination or harassment, and panels of white men should not interview black women for jobs, civil servants are being told in “race awareness” guidance.
A Whitehall e-learning course offered to all officials warns that in a scenario in which officials go to a pub after work and discuss work matters without two colleagues who are nondrinkers “the views of the majority cultural group have prevailed”.
Separately, officials are told that if a panel of middle-aged white men were to interview a black woman for a job and “find it difficult to build a rapport” with the woman, who is also “uncomfortable”, “unconscious bias” would occur, with lack of diversity “mak[ing] it difficult for them to relate” to the interviewee.
Saqib Bhatti, the Conservative MP for Meriden, warned that “adopting a quota-filling box ticking approach exacerbates division, causes resentment and creates an ‘us and them’ culture. This ‘woke’ bureaucracy is not what the public want to see their taxes spent on.”
This week, the Government is due to publish a new diversity and inclusion strategy for the Civil Service, which is seen by Tory sources as an opportunity to crack down on “woke and politicised” practices in Whitehall.
Last night, the Cabinet Office said the presentation would be removed as part of the new approach and a “refresh of our training programmes.”
A spokesman said the strategy “will ensure that we draw on the talents of people from the widest range of geographical, social and career backgrounds. We can confirm that these training modules are being removed as part of this work.”
A Whitehall source said that parts of the presentation appeared “patronising” and “absurd”, adding: “Civil servants of all races would surely find this counter-productive and divisive.”
A separate slide in the course, which aims to help officials “understand the issues faced by minority ethnic employees and customers”, states that the phrase “the country is full, we can’t take any more immigrants” is “as offensive as it is inaccurate”. Another slide is devoted to “benefits of immigration”. The source said: “This is political advocacy from the civil service”.
Last week The Sunday Telegraph disclosed that mandatory “unconscious bias” training was still taking place in Whitehall despite the Government moving to scrap it last year.
The course disclosed today sets out a fictitious scenario in which a team of civil servants go to a pub for drinks every Wednesday, but are not joined by two members, Amir and Nita. Amir is quoted as saying: “I was brought up not to drink, so I don’t go to pubs, and nor does Nita.” Because the others go to the pub and discuss work matters, the presentation states: “The views of the majority cultural group have prevailed; some people are being excluded from the decision-making process; it could be said some people are being discriminated against on cultural grounds.”
It adds: “The choice of space for team building and socialising has excluded some staff. The choice has been made to ensure the views and ideas of the majority cultural group prevail, excluding the input of others. The entire organisation is likely to suffer as a result. Direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment are all potentially taking place in the scenario.”