Confirmed
(Doc EDC //) EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY COMMITTEE
The Minutes of the Equality and Diversity Committee held on 30th March 2012
Present: Ms H Brooke, Mr T Halpin, Ms J Hulme (Chair), Professor N James, Mr A Killick, Mr A Lui, Professor M Mannion, Professor J Wilson
Apologies: Mr M Andrews, Professor D Greenhalgh
In Attendance: Professor I Cameron, Mrs S Munro (interim secretary)
Minutes
10.022 Considered: The draft unconfirmed minutes of the Committee meeting held on 23rd June 2011. 10.023 Resolved: That the minutes be approved as a correct record.
Matters Arising
10.024 Discussion: The Chair welcomed Mr Tom Halpin, member of the University Court, and Professor Iain Cameron, who was in attendance on behalf of Professor Douglas Greenhalgh, to the group.
She stated that a number of actions arose at the last meeting, some of which may now have been superseded by the arrival of Mr Alex Killick at the University and his subsequent discussions with the Equality and Diversity Adviser.
1. The Committee discussed the student pregnancy and maternity facilities which had been established on the ground level of the Saltire Centre and noted that the uptake on use of the space had been somewhat low.
2. The Committee discussed the issues surrounding international students and pregnancy in connection with checks required to ensure that the UKBA was not being discriminatory. The draft Student Pregnancy and Maternity Policy had been to the Academic Policy Committee on two occasions and amendments had been made. The Equality and Diversity Adviser confirmed that he was satisfied that the policy was not being discriminatory however, noted that the School of Health and Life Sciences had developed its own internal policy and procedure and further discussion was required to ensure that the two documents complimented each other. The Committee agreed that an impact assessment should be carried out and advice should be sought from Penningtons. Action: Mr Lui
3. The Equality and Diversity Adviser confirmed that he was in touch with his equivalent counterpart at the Scottish Police Services Authority, whom he had met through the previous Interim Director of HR, and noted that the SPSA model was one to aim for.
The Committee agreed to defer the matter until a further meeting.
4. The Committee learnt that the new Equality and Diversity legislation had been promulgated to Head of Departments within the Schools, via a number of presentations. Ms Hulme made clear that she wanted assurance that all territory had
1 been covered and all Heads of Department had attended. Action: Mr Lui
5. The Committee discussed the Athena Swan award criteria and the fact that the deadline for the bronze criteria submission was 30th April 2012. The new members of the Committee learnt that the bronze award was a corporate award at organisation level with the silver award at department level within the School. It was recommended that the University seek advice from colleagues within the sector who had already achieved the award so that a gap analysis could be carried out. It was agreed that Ms Hulme would include an update on the Athena Swan awards in her University Secretary report to Court. Action: Ms Hulme/Mr Lui
6. The Committee discussed the Student Pregnancy and Maternity Policy and noted that there were possible ramifications of students continuing to receive a bursary whilst off on maternity leave. The Committee recognised that there were also possible implications for home domiciled students who might receive funding. Professor Mannion confirmed that he would raise the issue with the Head of Student Administration Services. Action: Professor Mannion
Part A (for consideration and discussion)
Equality and diversity strategic approach and planning at GCU 2012 – 2013
10.0025 A paper considering the development of an action plan and infrastructure to Considered: support the University Strategy 2015, and meet the requirements of the Equality Act 2010, through main streaming equality and diversity GCU 10.026 The following points were noted in discussion by the Committee: Discussion: 1. With the arrival of the new Director of People, there was the intention to reinvigorate the Equality and Diversity agenda, as previously there had been no ownership of the agenda beyond the Organisational Development team. It was hoped that a new strategic approach to Equality and Diversity is taken throughout the University that will help to support the 2015 strategy, as well as meeting public sector requirements under the Equality Act 2010. To illustrate, the People Strategy will include outcomes that have an impact on people's lives and the Director of People would want to see evidence of that in the core business action. Each area that is responsible for a strategy would be required to build Equality and Diversity into that strategy meaning that there would be an action plan, outcomes and delivery. In short, it should be inclusive.
2. Following the discussion it was agreed that the mainstreaming approach should proceed to support legal compliance; however, to address concerns that mainstreaming would result in a less visible equality and diversity agenda, it was also agreed that evidence of mainstreaming in each core business area would be extracted into a central report (which will form the basis of the Equality Act 2010’s requirement of a mainstreaming report).
10.027 It was proposed that time-lines and a schedule should be drawn up. Resolved Action: Mr Lui Confirmed
(Doc EDC //)
10.028 A paper with an overview of responses to the staff survey cross referenced by Considered: equality and diversity groupings.
10.029: The following points were noted in discussion by the Committee: Discussion
1. Feedback had already been obtained from the Executive Board but further input was required from Policy and Planning and Capita. There was feedback from EB regarding the way that the data had been presented.
2. The headline data was that they were doing okay, so far as Equality and Diversity was concerned; there was an acceptance that a lot more could be done regarding the presentation but the actual data was not of any concern. The unions had raised the issue of gender. In terms of gender there were few statistics and as such there was no reassurance that they were getting it right or wrong but they were consistent with other sectors. There was noting out of kilter.
3. Data on ethnicity and religious beliefs was not collected and it was agreed that it should be collected the next time.
4. It was acknowledged that if data was collected then it needed to be used. The University needed to be in a position to track employees from recruitment to retirement regarding equality and discrimination. It was asked why staff were not comfortable sharing information on this and it was questioned what this said about the organisation. It was about setting objectives and having an outcome and measuring against it if they had particular concerns.
10.030 A paper outlining the proposed development of a Caledonian Code for staff and Considered: students to GCU to promote respect for all and highlight GCU values, rights and responsibilities.
10.031 1. The intention was to be able to codify rights and responsibilities, to have Discussion: something to hang the values of the organisation on.
2. The Caledonian Code for staff and students was well supported by the Executive and the process was being developed.
3. The School of Health and Life Sciences had used the GCU leadership behaviours when making recent appointments and it had proved extremely valuable. To that end the Caledonian Code was intending to build on elements that were already there and have a shared approach.
4. From a student perspective, it was suggested that a 'charter' was developed, similar to English Universities.
10.032 It was agreed that the charter should be proceeded with. Considered:
10.033 A paper with an overview of gender data at GCU, benchmarked with UK and
3 Considered: Scotland.
10.034 1. The data had been compiled by Policy and Planning along with HR and had already Discussion: passed through the Executive Board and the Staff Policy Committee.
2. GCU could be confident that there was no gender imbalances, however it was noted that there may be a huge difference if the cleaning service was outsourced and as such, the figures carried a health warning. Similarly, the types of courses offered by GCU may make a difference to the numbers.
10.035 Resolved: 3. It was agreed that more detailed analysis by Schools/Directorates was required.
10.036 A paper with an update on the new timescales for Scottish public sector duties under Considered: the Equality Act 2010
10.037 1. There was a necessity to seek to integrate requirements by mainstreaming Discussion: equality and diversity in each of the University's strategies and activities.
2. It was noted that there were a number of actions to be monitored by different committees and as such the Executive Board would need to be clear as to who would lead each of the activities and the Equality and Diversity Committee would be the 'belt and braces' to the process.
3. Ms. Hulme noted that there was due to be a meeting of the Committee Chairs the following week, and that the meeting should also receive this paper for information at this stage as the future requirements may have implications, or require action from their respective Committees.
It was agreed to circulate the paper to the Committee Chairs meeting 10.038 Resolved: Action: Mr Lui
AOB There was no AOB. Ms Hulme closed the meeting and thanked the members.