Parliament hires diversity managers on £70,000 a year despite war on woke jobs

Houses of Parliament, quangos and arms-length bodies are all advertising for staff in well-paid equality, diversity and inclusion roles – GRANDRIVER

Parliament is hiring new diversity managers on almost £70,000 a year – despite the Government ordering the Civil Service to scrap such roles.

The House of Lords and the House of Commons are both advertising for new “inclusion” jobs. Half a dozen quangos and arms-length bodies are also actively advertising for equalities staff on big salaries funded by the taxpayer.

The Lords is inviting applications for a new head of inclusion and diversity, who will be paid a salary of £57,500 to £68,500 a year.

Diversity training in Parliament is overseen by the House of Commons’ “diversity and inclusion” team

According to the advertisement, the role will involve leading a three-strong team of inclusion officers “with a mixture of working from home” and Parliament.

Meanwhile, the Commons is hiring a senior inclusion and diversity manager on £56,180 to £66,497 a year who will have “a focus on race and ethnicity”.

The advert states: “You will have responsibility for leading and developing our race-specific work but will be working across all diversity characteristics.”

Both roles are replacing existing staff members who are leaving the same position.

A parliamentary spokesman said: “Parliament is independent of Government. As such staff of the House of Commons and House of Lords administrations are not civil servants, and guidance provided by Government doesn’t apply in this instance.”

The House of Lord’s head of inclusion and diversity could earn up to £68,500 a year

Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, has ordered Whitehall to begin cutting diversity roles as part of a drive to shrink the Civil Service back to its pre-pandemic size.

He called for an end to the “box-ticking” culture and expressed concerns that the focus on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) was hampering productivity.

It is thought the drive could result in as many as 10,000 such jobs being cut over the next few years.

But despite his instructions, issued last October, a number of Government agencies and arms-length bodies are continuing to recruit for diversity roles.

The DVLA is advertising for an equality and inclusion specialist to “drive diversity initiatives”, based outside of London on a salary of £40,808.

‘Counterproductive’ initiatives

Meanwhile, the College of Policing, an arms-length body of the Home Office, is hiring a diversity, equality and inclusion adviser on £33,573 to £42,115.

The Disclosure and Barring Service, another Home Office body, is recruiting a head of strategy, planning and inclusion on a salary of £53,400 to £62,000.

At present, the Prison and Probation Service, the Intellectual Property Office and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman are all also advertising diversity roles.

Kemi Badenoch, the Business Secretary, has criticised the public and private sector for prioritising diversity initiatives, which she has labelled “counterproductive”.

Writing for The Telegraph in March, she said: “While millions are being spent on these initiatives, many popular EDI practices – such as diversity training – have little to no tangible impact in increasing diversity or reducing prejudice.

“In fact, many practices have not only been proven to be ineffective, they have also been counterproductive.”

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