History Reclaimed received some weeks ago a concerned letter about training courses in history that Home Office civil servants were required to undergo. The content of these courses worried us, as it did our correspondent. Wishing to know more, we submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Home Office, to which it has now replied.
We think that these documents largely speak for themselves. The Home Office have refused to provide any useful information pending publication of the material at an unspecified future date. They have refused to say precisely which organizations or individuals created the course other than to say that “the training was developed with a large, diverse group of people” and drawn from “a wide field of academic and non-academic sources”. They have refused to say whether anything was done to check for accuracy or to ensure diversity of opinion. They have refused to give any information on what we are informed is tendentious and misleading content. This clearly does not conform to what the Home Office calls “general public interest in the disclosure of information to ensure departmental transparency and accountability.” On the contrary, civil servants continue to be exposed to historical “training” that appears to be inaccurate and distorted, of unknown origin, and unavailable for public scrutiny.
Our Freedom of Information Request:
Please supply the following information concerning the staff training course “Serving Diverse Communities: History of the UK and its Relationship with the Rest of the World”
- Is this training obligatory, and if so for which staff? How long has the course been running?
- Who provides the training, and is the material used published or in other ways publicly available for scrutiny? Please send copies of teaching materials if available or indicate where they can be located.
- Have reputable academic experts been involved in the preparation or delivery of the course, and if so, who are they?
- What steps have been taken to ensure the accuracy of information disseminated in the course? How is diversity of opinion on contested historical matters adequately reflected?
- Does the course suggest that racism and racist ideology were deliberately created to further the growth of the British empire?
- Please provide details of information given in the course on the activity of the Royal Navy and the British Empire in ending the Atlantic Slave Trade and the slave trade with the Muslim world. What information is given on other sustained efforts by Britain to end slavery across the globe?
- Does the course argue that that the British Empire prevented the economic development of colonies? Does it suggest that it was British rule that caused India’s share of world GDP to fall between the 18th and the 20th centuries? What basic economic explanation is given for differential growth in different parts of the world due to the Industrial Revolution? What information is provided on the commercial and industrial development of India (railways, steel industry, agriculture, textile industry etc) during British rule?
- Does the course provide a list of further reading to be undertaken by students? If so, please provide a copy.
The reply from the Home Office:
‘FOI legislation allows for public access to recorded information, this does not include the creation of new information or the provision of opinion. Therefore parts 5-7 [of your request] are not considered part of this FOI request or response. However, your questions may be answered in the publication of the training and the review (linked below). [Editor’s note: they are not.] For part 8 there is also a bibliography published recently. The Historical Roots of the Windrush Scandal – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) [Editor’s note: this bibliography contains no major histories of the British Empire, no substantial study of India, the slave trade, the abolition of slavery or any adequate guide to ‘the UK and its relationship with the rest of the world’] For parts 1-4, I can confirm that the Home Office holds the information that you have requested. However, for part 2 of your request the information you have requested will be published online in the future, therefore after careful consideration we have decided that the information is exempt from disclosure under section 36 of the FOIA. The course material has been available since February 2023 and is considered recommended training for all Home Office staff. During 2021-2022 the training was developed with a large, diverse group of people, and content has been created from a wide field of academic and non-academic sources, including internal colleagues, academic experts, psychologists, behavioural scientists, sociologists, and historians from outside the Home Office. Section 36 of the Act is a qualified exemption and requires consideration of the public interest test. We have concluded the public interest lies in favour of withholding the information until the planned publication, rather than in early disclosure.
Public interest test in relation to section 36
Some of the exemptions in the FOI Act, referred to as ‘qualified exemptions’, are subject to a public interest test (PIT). This test is used to balance the public interest in disclosure against the public interest in maintaining the exemption. We must carry out a PIT where we are considering using any of the qualified exemptions in response to a request for information. The ‘public interest’ is not necessarily the same as what interests the public. In carrying out a PIT we consider the greater good or benefit to the community as a whole if the information is released or not. Transparency and the ‘right to know’ must be balanced against the need to enable effective government and to serve the best interests of the public. The FOI Act is ‘applicant blind’. This means that we cannot, and do not, ask about the motives of any anyone who asks for information. In providing a response to one person, we are expressing a willingness to provide the same response to anyone.
Considerations in favour of disclosing the information
There is a general public interest in the disclosure of information to ensure departmental transparency and accountability. There is also a general public interest in providing information to enable the public to understand decisions which may affect them. There is a specific public interest in enabling access to information about Home Office Serving Diverse Communities: History of the UK and its Relationship with the Rest of the World training For this reason, there is an intention to publish this information.
Considerations in favour of maintaining the exemption.
It is in the public interest to ensure that the publication of official information is a properly planned and managed process. The Home Office must ensure that the information intended for publication meets the standards and requirements set for departmental publications. It would not be in the public interest for the Home Office to release this information prior to meeting such standards. Publication before the planned date, in response to individual FOI requests, would undermine the Home Office pre-planned publication procedures and its ability to use staff resources in a way that avoids undermining reasonable publication timetables.
Conclusion
We conclude that the balance of the public interest lies in maintaining the exemption and withholding the information at this stage, because it is in the overall public interest that the Home Office is able to plan its publication of information in a managed and cost effective way. If you are dissatisfied with this response you may request an independent internal review of our handling of your request by submitting a complaint within two months to foirequests@homeoffice.gov.uk, quoting reference 07724/24. If you ask for an internal review, it would be helpful if you could say why you are dissatisfied with the response. As part of any internal review the Department’s handling of your information request would be reassessed by staff who were not involved in providing you with this response. If you were to remain dissatisfied after an internal review, you would have a right of complaint to the Information Commissioner as established by section 50 of the FOIA.’
