"Compulsory pronouns and rainbow lanyards are not the way to foster inclusion"

Telegraph: 20th March 2024: Kemi Badenoch's writes on her initial response to findings of the independent "Inclusion At Work" panel

"...For several years now, I have read reports of employers misapplying equality law under the guise of EDI initiatives...

Most employers mean well when they set about to improve diversity and inclusion. However, actions such as positive discrimination and quotas are unlawful, even if used to diversify an organisation. This Government believes that EDI policies should... crucially uphold fairness and meritocracy...

Unfortunately, there is a lot of snake oil about. Just this week, a government minister found that the training materials for one of their departmental quangos included references to outmoded concepts like “unconscious bias”, and “white privilege”, and used a picture of someone holding up a placard saying “white silence costs lives”. All of this bunkum was contained in mandatory training for 1,400 poor souls whose primary job is to help further the Government’s economic agenda.

The [Inclusion at Work] panel has today published its final report. Much of it makes for concerning reading. The UK has seen an explosion of EDI roles in organisations. Studies found that the UK employs almost twice as many EDI workers per head than any other country. This same analysis estimates that EDI jobs in our public services are costing the taxpayer at least half a billion pounds a year...

...many practices have not only been proven to be ineffective, they have also been counterproductive...The report finds that, in some cases, employers are even inadvertently breaking the law under the guise of diversity and inclusion by censoring beliefs or discriminating against certain groups in favour of others...

Over the next few weeks and months, the Government will consider seriously how we can best take forward its recommendations.

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