Home Office staff told to make half of work socials alcohol-free in inclusivity drive

Whitehall sources say that workers at the Home Office have been instructed to avoid alcohol at every other workplace function and celebration because of possible racism. 
 
The Home Office source said it had been advised by top officials to see that ‘every other social is not the pub’. 
 
In its place, they added that there is now an “effort to ensure work social related events do not involve drinking but are centred on activities like bowling or picnics. 
 
“Yeah, there is one, if I may say, a kind of culture of acceptance here,” he noted. “[Senior civil servants] have grown into it and this culture has been built into them. It’s become systemic,” the source expounded. 
 
It is believed that there is no formal policy of Home Office banning social events, and that each team makes their own arrangements on out-of-hours working. 
 
The targeting of avoiding events with alcohol may be as it is a way to be more considerate to the employees of different religions and faith or the Gen-Z generation which is not as heavy a drinkers as the older generations. 
 
And most recent data available reveals that the culture of having a drink immediately after coming out of work is fast fading out especially among the Gen Z who do not have the same love for the beer gardens as the previous generations. 
 
Even though fewer young people in the UK today are drinking alcohol, and current abstainers are more likely than their parents’ generation to have no desire to get behind the wheel after imbibing, about a fifth of adults under 25 indicated they did not drink any alcohol at all, based on figures from the Drinkaware foundation. 
 
It also captures the emerging decline in alcohol related celebration which seems to have set in across Whitehall in the recent past. 
 
Downing Street workers are often invited to socialize lunches in St James’s Park and “bring your own” picnicking dinners in the Number 10 garden, both of which, the Downing Street source pointed out, are “completely sober. ” 
 
Officials in the government observed that there was no regulation on the amount of money that can be spent in alcohol in social functions as it depends on the discretion of the departments involved. 
 
Partygate hangover 
 
According to this Downing Street source, there was a sense that drinking at No10 was akin to a ‘massive taboo’. Thus, they testified to not having observed anything stronger than mulled wine served to No10 staff since summer 2022. 
 
According to a source, Whitehall departments are still very wary of authorising alcohol for social occasions since it is easy to designate a freedom of information request about this spending. 
 
Included in the Palace of Westminster are several MP, peer, staff and other pass bearing permitted bars and restaurants where one can enjoy alcohol sponsored by the taxpayers. 
 
In 2023 the drinking culture in Westminster was said to perpetuate harassment and other misconduct by MPs and staff according to the parliamentary behaviour watchdog. 
 
Westminster was similarly in the news after one of its key moments – popularly called the partygate scandal – where it was found that, at the height of public adherence to physical distance measures, ahead of the socially distanced funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh, Downing Street staff hosted parties. 
 
DCMS civil servants are also said also to have been urged not to drink so much at civil service parties. 
 
“From our seniors we have learnt the following, ‘Make sure that every social event you plan, especially the large ones, do not encourage over indulgence in alcohol,’ a source from the department said. 
 
They said the directives are given during all-staff meetings which the permanent secretary in the department and other top officials attend. 
 
“And if you were to organise a summer or winter social, it would make it really obvious that this is not going to be some huge wank-fest. ” 
 
The staffer also said individual directorates conduct quarterly outings but they do not require the consumption of alcohol. 
 
The Home Office, DCMS as well as the Cabinet Office were contacted for a statement.