Civil servants ‘told to refer to Christmas parties as “festive celebrations” in bid to avoid excluding different faiths’
- Civil servants have been told to call Christmas parties ‘festive celebrations’
- Officials have been told they can’t have alcohol if one staff member is sober
- There is no government-wide policy but managers have made own choices
Civil servants have been told to call their Christmas parties ‘festive celebrations’ in an attempt to avoid offending other faiths.
In another move to promote diversity and inclusion, some officials have been informed they cannot drink alcohol at a celebration if one team member is tea-total.
Speaking to The Telegraph, one civil servant said the fallout of Partygate also played a factor in the restrictions around their end-of-year festivities.
It is understood the government has not issued a blanket policy on Christmas parties, but individual managers have made their own interpretations based on the official ‘faith and belief toolkit’.
Civil servants (Whitehall pictured) have been told to call their Christmas parties ‘festive celebrations’ in an attempt to avoid offending other faiths
Christmas parties are allowed in the Civil Service, but official guidance tells managers to ‘bear in mind that not everyone consumes alcohol’ (stock image)
One civil servant told The Telegraph that inclusivity guidance meant they had to find restaurant that did not serve alcohol because just one team member is tea-total.
The individual said ‘no one should be expected to drink alcohol at work events’ and that non-alcoholic drinks should always be available.
However they felt not allowing anyone to drink alcohol due to one staff member was a ‘step too far’.
Another civil servant told the paper that they too had not been allowed alcohol at their Christmas party ‘because of Boris’ and the legacy of the ‘partygate scandal’.
Christmas parties are allowed in the Civil Service, but official guidance tells managers to ‘bear in mind that not everyone consumes alcohol’.
One civil servant was told they could not have alcohol at their Christmas party ‘because of Boris’ and the legacy of the ‘partygate scandal’
Jacob Rees-Mogg (pictured) scrapped several ‘unconscious bias’ training courses in the Civil Service during his time as a Cabinet Office minister
Several ‘unconscious bias’ training courses were scrapped in the Civil Service during Jacob Rees-Mogg’s time as a Cabinet Office minister.
He told the Telegraph: ‘The idea that civil servants need something called a “faith and belief toolkit” to celebrate Christmas at all is joyless nonsense, let alone one that suggests that people might worry about whether they can have a Christmas party.’
The bias training was intended to tackle patterns of discrimination and prejudice used in many workplaces.
At the time, the government said there was no evidence it changes attitudes – and urged other public sector employers to end this type of training.
In a now scrapped bias course, civil servants were given a scenario where a manager was told by a member of staff to remove a Christmas tree in case it offended Jewish or Muslim colleagues.
Staff were told: ‘Don’t assume that everyone from a particular religious background practises their religion in exactly the same way.’
Advertisement
