Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of unconscious bias training made available to the judiciary.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Lord Chief Justice (LCJ), the Senior President of the Tribunals, and the Chief Coroner have statutory responsibility for judicial training, under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, and Coroners and Justice Act 2009 respectively. Training responsibilities are exercised through the Judicial College. As training is a matter for the independent judiciary, no assessment is undertaken by the Ministry of Justice.
The Judicial College is committed to ensuring that matters of diversity and inclusion, fairness and tackling bias are embedded in all its training and competence frameworks for judges and magistrates. It is a golden thread that runs through every aspect of training design, development and delivery. The Judicial College’s goal is to include the topic of bias in all induction training and to have a suite of e-learning and resources on the topic of bias which judicial trainers can integrate into their continuation training as appropriate.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans he has to increase funding for unconscious bias training.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
There is no central budget for unconscious bias training specifically. Instead, departments are able to access a blend of free at point of access online learning, and learning purchased through current contracts. The information requested on spend is therefore not held centrally.
Further to the statement on 15 December, standalone Unconscious Bias training has been removed from Civil Service learning platforms.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much the Government has spent on unconscious bias training in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
There is no central budget for unconscious bias training specifically. Instead, departments are able to access a blend of free at point of access online learning, and learning purchased through current contracts. The information requested on spend is therefore not held centrally.
Further to the statement on 15 December, standalone Unconscious Bias training has been removed from Civil Service learning platforms.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of unconscious bias training.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government recognises that it is important to tackle bias in workplaces and in wider society. The Government Equalities Office commissioned a review of the evidence on unconscious bias and diversity training. The review showed that there is currently no evidence that this training changes behaviour in the long term or improves workplace equality. In 2018 GEO published evidence-based advice for employers on actions they could take to reduce bias within their organisations. The issue has not recently been discussed with the Devolved Administrations.
An internal review decided in January 2020 that unconscious bias training would be phased out in Civil Service departments. The Civil Service will instead integrate principles for inclusion and diversity into mainstream core training and leadership modules in a manner which facilitates positive behaviour change.
The government is making progress in understanding what works to support diversity and inclusion in the workplace. The Commission for Race and Ethnic Disparities demonstrates this government’s commitment to level up opportunity for everyone, to better understand disparities and their causes, and will be making evidence-based recommendations to address them. Employment and Enterprise is one of the four priority areas for the Commission. Further, our recent work with the large insurer, Zurich, demonstrated a 16% rise in female applicants for all jobs when advertising all jobs available as flexible. This is one of many trials in our Gender and Behavioural Insights Programme that is at the heart of our commitment to build workplace equality through insights and evidence.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what discussions she has had with the devolved Administrations on the effectiveness of unconscious bias training.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government recognises that it is important to tackle bias in workplaces and in wider society. The Government Equalities Office commissioned a review of the evidence on unconscious bias and diversity training. The review showed that there is currently no evidence that this training changes behaviour in the long term or improves workplace equality. In 2018 GEO published evidence-based advice for employers on actions they could take to reduce bias within their organisations. The issue has not recently been discussed with the Devolved Administrations.
An internal review decided in January 2020 that unconscious bias training would be phased out in Civil Service departments. The Civil Service will instead integrate principles for inclusion and diversity into mainstream core training and leadership modules in a manner which facilitates positive behaviour change.
The government is making progress in understanding what works to support diversity and inclusion in the workplace. The Commission for Race and Ethnic Disparities demonstrates this government’s commitment to level up opportunity for everyone, to better understand disparities and their causes, and will be making evidence-based recommendations to address them. Employment and Enterprise is one of the four priority areas for the Commission. Further, our recent work with the large insurer, Zurich, demonstrated a 16% rise in female applicants for all jobs when advertising all jobs available as flexible. This is one of many trials in our Gender and Behavioural Insights Programme that is at the heart of our commitment to build workplace equality through insights and evidence.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking to support businesses to provide unconscious bias training to all employees.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government recognises that it is important to tackle bias in workplaces and in wider society. The Government Equalities Office commissioned a review of the evidence on unconscious bias and diversity training. The review showed that there is currently no evidence that this training changes behaviour in the long term or improves workplace equality. In 2018 GEO published evidence-based advice for employers on actions they could take to reduce bias within their organisations. The issue has not recently been discussed with the Devolved Administrations.
An internal review decided in January 2020 that unconscious bias training would be phased out in Civil Service departments. The Civil Service will instead integrate principles for inclusion and diversity into mainstream core training and leadership modules in a manner which facilitates positive behaviour change.
The government is making progress in understanding what works to support diversity and inclusion in the workplace. The Commission for Race and Ethnic Disparities demonstrates this government’s commitment to level up opportunity for everyone, to better understand disparities and their causes, and will be making evidence-based recommendations to address them. Employment and Enterprise is one of the four priority areas for the Commission. Further, our recent work with the large insurer, Zurich, demonstrated a 16% rise in female applicants for all jobs when advertising all jobs available as flexible. This is one of many trials in our Gender and Behavioural Insights Programme that is at the heart of our commitment to build workplace equality through insights and evidence.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 12 October 2020 to Question 81551 on Coronavirus: Ethnic Groups, if his Department will make an assessment of the effect of unconscious bias on the treatment of BAME covid-19 patients.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Through Public Health England’s Beyond the Data review, stakeholders said that some black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities felt that they receive different treatment when compared with white patients and that this has further exacerbated fear within BAME communities and reluctance to seek medical care.
We are concerned that COVID-19 has had a disproportionate effect on people from BAME backgrounds. The Minister for Equalities (Kemi Badenoch MP) has been tasked to lead the Government's work tackling this issue. With the support of the Race Disparity Unit, the Minister is also reviewing the effectiveness and impact of current actions being undertaken by relevant Government departments and their agencies to directly lessen disparities in infection and death rates of COVID-19.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what the Government's policy is on the use of unconscious bias training; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government recognises that it is important to tackle bias in workplaces and in wider society, and it is good practice to use a range of evidence based measures to achieve this, and evaluate their success. The request for a statement on this has been noted and the Government will provide an update, detailing its position on unconscious bias training, in due course.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much the Government has spent on funding unconscious bias training in the last five years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Civil Service is committed to being an inclusive workplace where talented individuals can thrive, no matter their background.
The Civil Service is committed to an evidence-based approach to building more inclusive workplaces. We are currently reviewing our training on Diversity & Inclusion to ensure it is based on the best available evidence. Updates will be made in due course.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department has made of the efficacy and effectiveness of unconscious bias training funded by the Government.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Civil Service is committed to being an inclusive workplace where talented individuals can thrive, no matter their background.
The Civil Service is committed to an evidence-based approach to building more inclusive workplaces. We are currently reviewing our training on Diversity & Inclusion to ensure it is based on the best available evidence. Updates will be made in due course.