People from Yorkshire should not have to alter their accents to succeed in the civil service, Government says
Ministers want to get more working class people represented in the Civil Service.
You do not hear “ee bah gum” much around Whitehall, however all that may be about to change as the Government has said people from Yorkshire and other parts of the North should not have to change their regional accents to succeed in the Civil Service.
Ministers plan to address what they see as the over-representation of people from more well-off backgrounds in the Civil Service with a new equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) strategy.
This will place a major emphasis on socio-economic background as a driver of unequal opportunities, and will recognise that people from higher socio-economic backgrounds, those traditionally thought of as the middle classes, are over-represented in the Civil Service.
Government figures suggest people from this demographic make up 54 per cent of the staff within the machinery of Government, compared with 37 per cent of the wider workforce.
The document will acknowledge how routes to success in the Civil Service are heavily influenced by class norms, geography and by biases about regional accents.
It will attempt to ensure that people from the working classes and regional backgrounds do not feel they need to alter their behaviour, accents or language to fit in with the Civil Service.
People with frontline experience in job centres, border security and prisons will also be given clearer routes into senior Civil Service policymaking roles as a result of the strategy, while alternatives to traditional higher education, such as apprenticeships and further education colleges, will be promoted.