Now the business department begins review of Stonewall’s ‘dubious’ diversity training scheme

The business department today became the latest public body to announce a review of its membership of Stonewall’s workplace diversity initiative amid warnings of an ‘exodus’ from the scheme after the Ministry of Justice announced it would sever ties.

Officials will scrutinise the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s participation in the Diversity Champions programme, which offers workplace training and produces a ranking of the 100 most LGBT-friendly employees. 

The scheme – membership of which starts at around £2,500 – has been criticised for its ‘dubious’ training, as well as claims the charity was using the rankings to ‘coerce’ public bodies into lobbying for changes to sex and gender laws. 

Senior figures in Number 10, including Henry Newman, an adviser to Boris Johnson and an ally of his wife, Carrie, are resisting any move to withdraw from the scheme over fears about the message it could send to LGBT people.

Minister Lord Callanan will analyse whether the programme is value for money for both the business department and the quangos it oversees, including HM Land Registry and the Competition and Markets Authority, The Times reported.

A BEIS spokesman told MailOnline today: “The Government supports inclusive workplaces and, as has been the case for many years, departments work with a variety of external schemes.

“We keep membership of all external organisations and benchmarking schemes under continuous ​scrutiny.” 

Should it break ties, it will follow the Ministry of Justice, which announced it was withdrawing this month, as well as the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Channel 4 and Acas, the employment dispute service.

Other departments are expected to follow suit, after Equalities Minister Liz Truss suggested that government bodies should withdraw from the scheme over growing concerns about its value for money.

Sources at the MoJ told the Sunday Telegraph that the decision to withdraw from the scheme was also based on concerns about Stonewall’s approach to free speech and what they called its ‘dubious’ training. 

One session involved prison and probation staff closing their eyes to imagine walking through a park where they come across different people, after which they are challenged to say if everyone they ‘saw’ was white, able-bodied or in a heterosexual relationship.

Campaigners have accused the controversial equality charity of encouraging public bodies and firms to adopt policies that create a ‘culture of fear’ among workers who disagree with transgender ideology. 

Amid growing criticism of Stonewall, a report in The Times on Saturday suggested the charity is using its LGBT rankings to ‘lobby on their behalf’ – rewarding those who follow its gender policies and punishing those who do not.

Former founding member of the group Simon Fanshawe said: ‘[The index] started out as a way of helping employers ensure their lesbian and gay staff were well looked after.

‘But what it has turned into now sounds more like coercion – a way of coercing employers in their language and structure, instead of encouraging them to embrace the different needs of their LGBT staff.’

Stonewall says its rankings – which use the Workplace Equality Index referred to as the UK’s ‘leading benchmark tool for LGBT inclusion’ – provide a list of the ‘best employers for LGBT people’.

More than 500 public bodies, from NHS trusts to the Scottish government, applied to be listed on the charity’s exclusive index last year.

These bodies must complete a 31-page form that questions social media use, HR policies and inclusion measures which can take months to complete. 

But new documents reveal the lengths these organisations go to in order to satisfy Stonewall’s rigid requirements – including offering screenshots of employees social media posts and promising changes to internal inclusion policies.

Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish government is one of many high profile diversity applicants – who are said to have sent details of Pride events attended by the First Minister and examples of dissenting colleagues being muzzled in internal communications.

Legal changes to the Gender Recognition Act were also mooted as part of earlier applications, although Holyrood plummeted out of the top 100 rankings in Stonewall’s 2020 index. 

Outspoken critics have also slammed Stonewall’s attempt to impose its own interpretations of sex and gender on employers.

Kate Lee, a former Stonewall volunteer who lobbied MPs for gay marriage rights, told the Times: ‘It [the index] is a Ponzi scheme.

‘They have invented an idea [gender identity] which they are imposing on others without their consent. You don’t get acceptance by demanding compliance. Gay people are getting sick of it.’

 

 

Stonewall told MailOnline that organisations on their Top 100 Employers list are rewarded for their ‘impressive work towards becoming a more inclusive workplace.’

Stonewall said: ‘Our Workplace Equality Index is a robust benchmarking tool which offers a free and voluntary way for all organisations to reflect on their own LGBTQ+ inclusion journey. All of the organisations who place on our Top 100 Employers list gain their ranking based on their impressive work towards becoming a more inclusive workplace, which is marked against thorough and standardized criteria. 

‘Our Workplace Equality Index is free and separate to our Diversity Champions programme, which employers can join to help them better support their LGBTQ+ staff. As with every voluntary index, organisations can enter – or not enter – the Index depending on what works best for them at the time.

‘It is completely normal and appropriate for national charities to engage with public sector organisations to support them in making their workplaces inclusive for lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer staff. and we’re proud to help organisations in this work through our Workplace Equality Index and our Diversity Champions programme. 

‘All our guidance on the Equality Act is based on the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s Equality Act Code of Practice, which was recently reaffirmed in the High Court.’ 

Government bodies and NHS organisations have also tried to place among the Top 100 in recent years.

Central London Community Health NHS Trust was reportedly asked to replace the word ‘mother’ with ‘birthing parent’ or ‘pregnant employee’ in order to receive a better ranking.

The body, which cares for more than two million patients across the capital, was also told to ensure its social media accounts ‘clearly shows support for LGBT equality’. 

The Trust ranked 339th in the charity’s Top 100 employers of 2020. 

In 2018, the Intellectual Property Office faced a barrage of questions after appearing in a Stonewall advert that urged people to complete gender self-identification forms as part of a Government consultation. 

Members of the public pondered why the IPO, a government body, was taking a stance on a politicised debate.

When Stonewall revealed its Top 100 employers of 2019, the IPO had soared up to 13th place in its rankings – moving up 80 positions on the previous year.

The charity reportedly reserved special praise for the IPO’s very ‘public support for reform to the Gender Recognition Act’ and its social media use that showed a ‘commitment to LGBT equality’. 

A spokesperson for the IPO denied influencing the consultation and said it does not take part in ‘lobbying activity’. 

Councils across England and Wales have also clamoured to be a part of Stonewall’s list, with some going as far as removing all gendered language from its policies.

Rhondda Cynon Taf, the only Welsh council to make the top 100 last year, was praised for removing ‘gendered pronouns’ such as ‘mother’ on its application.

Hackney Council, whose Labour mayor Philip Glanville was the first in the borough to convert a same-sex civil partnership in 2014, was penalised in its ‘role models’ section and told to include transgender leaders.

Chair of Sex Matters and barrister Naomi Cunningham, told The Times: ‘Stonewall sells its Workplace Equality Index as a scheme to help organisations comply with equality law. 

‘But what it offers is lobbying — it presents its own highly contentious understanding of what the law should be presented as ‘training’ on what the law is.

‘It tells organisations to treat anyone who identifies as the opposite sex as if they have changed sex, and are therefore automatically entitled to use spaces such as toilets, changing rooms and showers that others rely on for privacy. 

‘That’s not the law.’