Khan to spend up to £25,000 on ‘anti-racism allyship’ training for policing board

The policing office run by Sadiq Khan is set to spend up to £25,000 on “anti-racism allyship” training for members of the Metropolitan Police’s new scrutiny board.

The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime has advertised for a training provider to offer the diversity class to senior figures on the London Policing Board.

Last year, Mr Khan announced the creation of the board to “oversee and scrutinise” the Met’s review of culture and standards.

Its members include Stuart Lawrence, the brother of Stephen Lawrence, who was killed in a racially motivated attack in 1993, aged 18, and Neil Basu, a retired Met police officer who was once Britain’s most senior non-white policeman.

The contract advertised on the Government website by the Mayor’s Office placed its value at £10,000 to £25,000 prior to bids closing earlier this month.

A description posted to the site reads: “Mopac is seeking a highly qualified and experienced facilitator to lead a session on anti-racism allyship for members of the London Policing Board. This session will delve into the complexities of allyship and its role in their work.”

Any successful bidder will have the work for two years as part of plans to deliver further allyship sessions on issues relating to equality, diversion and inclusion “as needed”. Sessions are expected to be about three hours and will be delivered face-to-face.

The advert said the aim of the training would be to “empower all participants to actively contribute towards driving improvements to the Metropolitan Police Service in addressing racism”.

It continued: “The session should foster a safe and inclusive space for open and honest dialogue, encourage active participation and provide actionable strategies to enhance the participants’ allyship skills.

“It should reference the multiple intersecting forms of prejudice, including racism, misogyny, LGBT+, disability and faith.”

Sir John Hayes, the chairman of the Common Sense Group of Tory backbenchers, accused the Mayor of “a disturbing misuse of public money” and said the training was likely to be “completely meaningless”.

He added: “Of course everyone’s against racial discrimination or anything similar. But to turn countering it into an ideology and create an industry around it is frankly an immense waste of money that should be spent on front-line policing.

“People expect money devoted to policing to protect them from criminal harm and catch criminals and stop crime.”

A spokesman for Mr Khan said: “This week was the 31st anniversary of the appalling racist murder of Stephen Lawrence, and the Mayor reiterated his view that the Met Police remains institutionally racist, as well as institutionally sexist and homophobic.

“The Met, under its new leadership, is now on a path of far-reaching systemic and cultural reform, and the independent London Policing Board will play a key role in supporting and holding the police to account, ensuring these fundamental reforms are delivered.”

The Government scrapped unconscious bias training at the end of 2020 after an official review found diversity courses do not change behaviour or improve workplace equality in the long term.

Despite Number 10 abandoning the training, examples have surfaced in the past couple of years of civil servants defying ministers to run diversity classes across departments.

A report by Baroness Casey last year concluded that Scotland Yard was institutionally racist, sexist and homophobic, warning the public was being let down by a force that no longer had a functioning neighbourhood policing service. The review found the Met was struggling to embed good behaviour among officers.

Last week, Gavin Stephens, the chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said policing needed to avoid being defensive and admit the scale of problems surrounding institutional racism to gain the support of local communities.