Esther McVey, the Cabinet Office minister, is concerned that Whitehall managers are being distracted by “woke amateur horses”; Photo: ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy Live News
Diversity jobs in the civil service will be banned as a result of a new crackdown on Whitehall's “woke” spending, The Telegraph reports.
In a sweeping reform aimed at ending the “behind-the-scenes politicization” of the civil service, mandarins will be told not to hire new staff dedicated to promoting diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI).
There will no longer be any, according to plans positions in Whitehall will be dedicated exclusively to diversity.
Managers will be prohibited from hiring third-party DEI contractors, and officials whose work currently focuses exclusively on diversity will be moved to HR departments and given greater powers. .
Esther McVey, the Cabinet Office minister, is concerned that Whitehall managers are being distracted by “woke hobby horses” rather than carrying out their core functions.
In a statement this week, she will warn that The public sector must not become “a pointless job creation scheme for politically correct people.”
Writing in The Telegraph, she said the amount of staff time devoted to diversity and inclusion schemes was a “major issue”.
“Indeed, we have some staff in the public sector whose only role is to to ensure departments are achieving diversity goals,” Ms McVeigh said.
“Time and money that should be spent on the core purpose of a public sector working to benefit society is wasted on woke horses , and I am determined to stop it.”
New guidance on third party spending
Officials would also be prohibited from spending their department's budget on outside DEI campaign groups, experts or consultants.
Ms. McVeigh said most of these programs lack transparency about what impact, if any, they have. adding that their benefits are “unproven to say the least.”
New guidelines will be issued to all government departments. on third party diversity spending, making it clear that this can only happen with the explicit approval and permission of ministers.
In October, the Chancellor launched a review of all government spending on workplace diversity. Government departments and quangos were ordered to assess how much they spent on such posts and report their findings to the Treasury.
The review found Whitehall had spent £27 million in just six months. has now been completed and its findings have been transmitted to the Cabinet of Ministers.
Heads of departments have been summoned
Ms McVey has called the department heads and quangos who spent the most on equality and diversity schemes to a meeting where she will ask them to explain how the spending has benefited taxpayers.
Ms McVey said : “Diversity in the public service should never be measured solely in terms of race and gender; it should also be about history and differences of opinion and perspective, which was not always the case. First of all, we should talk about merit.
“However, some managers feel that this does not reflect their reality; and wasting millions of pounds of taxpayers' money on advice from so-called equality professionals.”
She questioned whether “this is really what we should be spending people's hard-earned taxes on”, adding that people want , so that their civil servants “continue to work to make their lives easier, rather than engage in endless internal discussions about ideology.”
In recent years, ministers have become increasingly concerned about the amount of time and money being spent on diversity work and initiatives.
Review of diversity networks
In 2021, then equalities secretary Liz Truss ordered Whitehall departments to withdraw from the controversial scheme ” Diversity Campaigners, run by the charity Stonewall, following accusations of promoting extremist ideologies.
Earlier this year, the Cabinet Office ordered a separate review of Whitehall's diversity networks and an “update” of civil service impartiality guidance to ensure officials do not “use their jobs as a vehicle for political activism”.
Under plans discussed with Kemi Badenoch, Equalities Minister and Ms McVeigh, diversity meetings should be held before work, during lunch breaks or in the evenings.
Last year, senior civil servants warned the Cabinet Office minister about ” the awakened takeover of Whitehall.” it risks “undue” influence on government policy.
Simon Case, in a letter signed by 42 staff from 16 departments, was told that gender ideology promoted by trans activists was ingrained in the civil service, which was a “serious breach ” impartiality.”
It states that the concept “everyone has a gender identity that is more important than their sex” is “regarded as an indisputable fact.”
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