All 35,000 Home Office civil servants to be taught history of migration after Windrush scandal
All 30,000 civil servants in the Home Office are to undergo training to understand and appreciate the history of migration and race in Britain after the Windrush scandal, Priti Patel has announced.
The Home Secretary said every existing and new member of staff would be required to undertake the learning as part of a strategy to prevent a repeat of the Windrush scandal.
It follows a highly critical report by Wendy Williams, an HM inspector of constabulary, which found the Home Office displayed aspects of “institutional racism” in the “ignorant and thoughtless” way it dealt with immigrants in the Windrush scandal
Speaking in the Commons, Ms Patel also promised a "full evaluation" of the hostile environment policy in the wake of the Windrush scandal.
The strategy, announced by then home secretary Theresa May in 2012, aimed through a series of administrative and legal measures to make staying in the UK as difficult as possible for people who do not have leave to remain in the hope they will depart the country of their own accord.
Ms Patel said: “I am driving change to implement the important findings of the Lessons Learned review to make sure nothing like this can happen again.
“The action I have taken will ensure cultural change at the department, leading to more diverse leadership.
“I want the Windrush generation to have no doubt that I will reform the culture of the department so it better represents all of the communities we serve.”
Announcing the training, she told MPs she wanted everyone in the department to "see a face behind the case."
"The injustices of Windrush did not happen because Home Office staff were bad people, but because staff themselves were caught up in a system where they did not feel they had the permission to bring personal judgment to bear," she said.
There will also be a series of "reconciliation events" to help "rebuild the relationship" between the department and victims.
Acknowledging there is a lack of diversity in senior leadership in the department, Ms Patel said: "I have raised this at a senior management level in my own department that particularly with our own staff members from black, Asian, minority ethnic communities, that are actually stuck at certain grades in my department. That is not acceptable at all, it really isn't."
Ms Williams will return to the Home Office in September 2021 to review progress, Ms Patel said, adding: "I am confident she will find the start of a genuine cultural shift within the department - a Home Office that is working hard to be more diverse, more compassionate and worthy of the trust of the communities it serves."
