Civil servants told they should ‘yield power to the marginalised’
Civil servants in HMRC were told to “yield power” to the marginalised and that they “unknowingly benefit” from racism.
A handout given to senior officials, published on April 6 2021 but still in use as of last year, asks civil servants to “take a moment to reflect” on “how actively anti-racist are you?”
The handout groups people into various anti-racist “zones”.
The “fear zone” describes civil servants who “deny racism is a problem”, “avoid hard questions”, “strive to be comfortable” and “talk to others who look and think like me”.
The “learning zone” is defined as when “I educate myself about race and structural racism” and “understand my own privilege in ignoring/condoning/condemning racism”.
Meanwhile, to be in the “growth zone” officials must “sit with [their] discomfort”, “yield positions of power to those otherwise marginalised”, “identify how [they] may unknowingly benefit from racism”, “surround [themselves] with others who think and look differently than me”, and “educate [their] peers how racism harms our profession”.
Alka Sehgal-Cuthbert, director of the campaign group Don’t Divide Us, told The Telegraph: “Skin colour is not an indicator of talent, competence or work ethic, which are more important than markers of superficial ‘diversity’. ‘Yielding positions of power’ is patronising and fuels resentment. Senior officials like HMRC permanent secretary Jim Harra should face a ‘hard question’ themselves - why are they promoting or allowing such politically and ethically obnoxious beliefs about race within the Civil Service?
“To accept the assertion that we all have to be ‘actively anti-racist’ means accepting a false description of British people and society as racist in general. Why should anyone accept such an insulting claim with little or no evidence? This kind of ‘diversity’ breeds entitlement, fear and conformity - it has no place in a democratic society.”
In November 2020 HMRC launched a “Race Equality Learning package”, which was mandatory for senior officials and encouraged among junior civil servants.
The training included a 30 minute pre-reading session, and a two hour workshop on race.
‘Active by-stander training’
An internal HMRC email, seen by The Telegraph, stated that between November 2020 and April 2021 “over 17,000” civil servants “completed the online learning and attended workshops” as a part of the race equality training.
Furthermore, in November 2020 HMRC implemented its Race Equality Action Plan, which according to an internal memo published in April 2021, was “regularly discussed” in monthly meetings with senior mandarins in the department.
The plan, seen by this newspaper, urged “all non-Black Asian and Minority Ethnic SCS [Senior Civil Service] leaders to become Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic allies”.
It also advocated for mandatory “active by-stander training for all colleagues” to enable civil servants to “identify and call out racism”.
The plan pushed for “unconscious bias” to be recognised in HMRC training and policies.
Unconscious bias ban
In December 2020 ministers banned unconscious bias training in the Civil Service after it found the practice to be ineffective and could have unintended negative consequences.
Several government departments, including the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence, have launched “race action plans” in recent years in reaction to the George Floyd riots in the summer of 2020.
These plans, which aim to increase representation of ethnic minorities in Whitehall, have been criticised for being “woke” by some Conservative politicians.
In May 2022 the College of Policing launched the Police Race Action Plan which mandated a “programme of training for all police officers and staff” to increase awareness and understanding of “racism, anti-racism, Black history”.
The historian and journalist Zoe Strimpel criticised the plan at the time, writing in The Telegraph that it was “inspired by critical race theory”.
An HMRC spokesman said: “Like all public authorities, HMRC is legally required in carrying out its functions to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination. Offering training is one way in which we fulfil this statutory requirement.”
