FDA rejects Reform’s “nonsensical” claims on EDI spending

The FDA has rejected claims made by Reform UK that £7 billion could be saved by cutting Equality Diversity and Inclusion initiatives, despite the most recent Cabinet Office review showing civil service EDI spending was around £27 million.

During an appearance on Lewis Goodall’s LBC show, FDA General Secretary Dave Penman said:

“It’s nonsensical. It’s about a third of the entire pay bill of the civil service… In reality it’s tens of millions of pounds. This is about making sure the civil service is a fair employer, that it treats people with respect and crucially that it looks like the people that the government serve.”

He continued:

“I think the reality will soon hit Reform that this isn’t the U.S. administration, that of course there may be ideas that you can do things more efficiently, but at the end of the day, a bit like the spending round for the UK central government, this is about priorities.

“You can cut spending, but that means you’re going to cut services and those are political choices that you’re then held accountable for, rather than some idea there’s this kind of mythical billions to be saved just by doing things differently.”

Penman also appeared on Alex Phillips’ TalkTV programme to discuss the civil service’s efficiency, telling the presenter:

“How the administration and the government has been run for the last ten years has been chaotic. It’s wholly inefficient if you change policy direction every time you change a minister… So what we need is stability. We need a plan that matches commitments to resources. That way you will get a slimmed down, more efficient and more effective civil service.”