Met police to downgrade entrance test for minorities

Scotland Yard, a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police (Met), wants to downgrade the importance of written English tests at police recruitment centres to make it easier for candidates from ethnic minorities to join the department.

Officials have recommended lowering the weightage placed on written communication section of the Met's entrance exam as they felt people with non-English background were being discriminated against under current assessment rules, the Daily Express reports.

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However, they fear a white backlash among rank and file officers who feel they have already been passed over for promotion.

All constables must pass the Met's entrance test, known as Search (Structured Entrance Assessment for Recruiting Constables Holistically).

A statistical analysis of past exam results concluded that white candidates were more than twice as likely to pass.

Home Affairs Committee chairman MP Keith Vaz said the move could be insulting to the black and ethnic minority applicants and might even risk losing public confidence.