Quangos spend nearly £1million on assist teams internet hosting occasions
Public bodies have spent almost £1 million on support groups hosting events such as a lecture on the ‘Queer History of Tango’, it can be revealed.
Research has found there are now 438 staff networks across 79 British quangos and watchdogs, allowing workers to meet with others of the same race, faith, age, sexuality or disabilities.
In total £652,000 of taxpayers’ money has been spent over the past four years on the clubs and the hundreds of meetings and talks held, while £276,000 has been paid out by public bodies that are not directly taxpayer funded.
It comes after ‘minister for common sense’ Esther McVey hit out at the spread of staff networks within Whitehall departments, warning that some of the groups have moved into activism.
Esther McVey, ‘minister for common sense’, hit out at the spread of staff networks within Whitehall departments, warning that some of the groups have moved into activism
Last night Elliot Keck, head of campaigns at the TaxPayers’ Alliance which uncovered the scale of public sector staff networks, told the Mail: ‘Taxpayers will be cheering on Esther McVey’s no-nonsense approach to EDI [Equality, Diversity and Inclusion] roles in the civil service, but this isn’t the finishing line.’
Figures obtained by the campaign group under the Freedom of Information Act show that the biggest public sector spender on staff networks is Transport for London (TfL), responsible for the capital’s rail and bus networks.
It spent £120,000 over the past four years on six groups which organised 140 events for their members including ‘The future of e-scooters and how to increase women ridership in London’ and ‘Trafalgar Square ‘queer footprints’ walk & talk’.
Figures obtained by the campaign group under the Freedom of Information Act show that the biggest public sector spender on staff networks is Transport for London (TfL)
The Financial Conduct Authority – the regulator funded by banks – spent £74,800. Office-hour events included ‘The history of queer tango’ and another on ‘Microaggressions’.
The Intellectual Property Office had a talk on ‘intellectual property and queer theory’ while the DVLA hosted an ‘insight into afro-textured hair’.
TfL, which employs about 28,000 people, said each ‘colleague network group’ now gets £5,000.
Fiona Brunskill, chief people officer at TfL said: ‘Our Colleague Network groups (CNG) are an important part of our work to ensure that our staff feel properly represented in the workplace, identify common issues for the organisation to address and allow colleagues to air views to help to shape the equality agenda.
‘The majority of events held by these groups are run at lunchtimes or after work by TfL staff at no cost to the CNG or TfL.’
An FCA spokesman said: ‘Staff networks play an important role in raising awareness, educating the organisation and shaping HR policy, for example to support colleagues with caring responsibilities. We therefore provide a small budget to support their work.’
