MPs will be given lessons on ‘woke-friendly language and history’ by consultants who have previously declared the words ‘lady’ and ‘pensioner’ to be offensive.
Parliament paid Challenge Consultancy £7,000 to design a course on ‘unconscious bias’ for MPs, the company that has also trained BBC staff, has managed to get almost £800,000 from Parliament for conduct lessons in what one MP last night called ‘an absurd waste of taxpayers’ money’.
The consultancy uses a giant blue puppet called UB as part of its unconscious bias training.
Challenge Consultancy was previously ran training courses for Scottish Parliament staff in which it included the words “lady”, “pensioner” and “girl” in a list of words that could offend. In addition, “West Indian” and “asylum seeker” were flagged up as potentially discriminatory.
The firm was paid £746,250 to conduct ‘valuing-everyone’ training, which focused on harassment, bullying and sexual misconduct, Parliamentary authorities told this newspaper, adding that another £9,000 was spent on ‘BAME work’.
The firm boasts that previous clients who received similar training include ‘people managers at the BBC’, Bafta and Oscar judges.
However, not all MPs believe the training to be a good idea, one MP who remained anonymous said: “It’s a money-printing exercise. It isn’t about actually helping people – it’s about consultants getting richer.
“So much more can be done with the money, like disabled access and sufficient toilets for women.”
Conservative MP Neil O’Brien said: “It strikes me as an absurd waste of taxpayers’ money. We are to be treated like children. The idea that people need to go an expensive training course to learn how to be reasonable and respectful people is ridiculous.
“If this company regards the use of the words “pensioner” or “lady” as unreasonable, it would be interesting to see what their take on British history will be.”
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, ridiculed the move, he said: “This is quite ridiculous. The idea MPs need to be trained to learn about British history is an absurdity. To get elected MPs have to talk to people. We don’t need someone to come along and tell us what unconscious bias is.”
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Editor-in-Chief | Carl D. Pearson has been involved in British politics and media from an early age, with the key knowledge of what it takes to run a news organisation for the 21st century. Mr Pearson, as Editor-in-chief, is responsible for supervising the daily tasks of publishing media and content to UNN’s website and various platforms.
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