UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
Equality and Diversity Committee
Minutes of the meeting held on 3 February 2015
Present:
Pro-Vice Chancellor for People and Public Engagement (in the
Chair), Mrs C Algar, Mrs B Hay, Ms B Husakova, Mr S Lamb, Ms D
Markham, Mrs G McGrattan, Mr M Mik, Mrs C O’Leary, Mr M
Potter, Dr N Rabbani, Ms R Roke, Professor P Scott, Mr N Shiers,
Ms S Smart, Mr A Thompson, Mr D Wallis, Mrs D Weber
Apologies:
Dr J Angouri, Dr S Burrows, Dr E Campbell, Mrs S Crookes, Rev. S
Jennings, Professor S Rai, Dr M Shewring
In Attendance:
Mrs S Beaufoy - HR Adviser – Equality and Diversity (Assistant
Secretary); Mrs L Walls - HR
Manager – (Administration)
(Secretary)
Mr P Blagburn, Senior Assistant Registrar (Outreach) (for item 5)
Ms M Khan, Assistant Registrar (Learning & Teaching) (for item 6)
15/14-15
Conflicts of Interest
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
That, should any members or attendees of the Equality and Diversity
Committee have any conflicts of interest relating to agenda items for
the meeting, they should be declared at the beginning of the meeting.
RESOLVED:
That no conflicts of interest be recorded.
16/14-15
Welcome and Introduction by the Chair, Professor P Thomas, ProVice Chancellor for People and Public Engagement
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
(a) That Professor Thomas has worked at the University for 25 years
in the Physics Department, but had also taken on a number of
other roles in parallel during that time, including Director of the
Science City Alliance in 2009, Chair of the Faculty of Science since
2011 and in December 2014 became Pro-Vice Chancellor for
People and Public Engagement.
(b) That since December 2014, Professor Thomas has attended or
plans to attend a number of national meetings on diversity in
academic leadership.
(c) That Warwick has been approached to become involved in the UN
HeForShe campaign which provides a platform on which to enlist
men to help change the gender imbalance in leadership positions.
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RESOLVED:
That the outcome of the discussions and potential involvement by the
University in the HeForShe campaign is reported at the next meeting
of the Equality and Diversity Committee.
17/14-15
Minutes
RESOLVED:
That the minutes of the meeting of the Equality and Diversity
Committee held on 23 October 2014 be approved.
18/14-15
Matters Arising
(a) Athena SWAN Charter and the Gender Equality Charter Marks
REPORTED: (by the HR Adviser – Equality and Diversity)
(i)
That the Equality Challenge Unit have consulted with the sector
with regard to the proposed amalgamation of the Athena SWAN
and the Gender Equality Charter Marks with effect from April
2015.
(ii) That whilst still working primarily to Athena principles a number of
changes to the Charter Marks are proposed:
a) Inclusion of professional and support staff, honorary staff and
some atypical staff such as visiting lecturers, noting that these
staff will be covered separately in submissions.
b) Trans Staff – Institutional submissions will not be expected to
include data on transgender staff, but will need to demonstrate
how the unfair treatment often experienced by transgender
staff is tackled by the institution.
c) Zero contract hours – it is intended to extend beyond the
current Athena SWAN focus of fixed term and open-ended
contracts to include zero-hours contract staff.
d) Data requirements – the data template used in the GEM trial
will no longer be mandatory.
e) An increased focus on the use of qualitative data, which will be
especially useful for smaller departments, where there are
dangers in interpreting the small numbers involved in
quantitative data.
f) That ECU are proposing to change submission dates from
April and November to March and September.
g) That the name of the Charter Mark may change.
(iii)
That in consultation with other Russell Group Universities,
Warwick has responded to the consultation.
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(iv)
That in principle, the University agreed many of the proposed
changes, with the exception of the proposal to change
submission dates.
(b)
Student Statistics Report
REPORTED: (by the HR Adviser – Equality and Diversity)
That the Strategic Planning and Analytics Department have agreed to
produce a report on student profiles, which will be presented at the
October 2015 meeting, bringing it in line with the Staff Workforce
Profile Report.
RESOLVED:
That the student profile report mirrors the staff workforce profile in
terms of recording protected characteristics, but also if members
consider any further information that may be useful for collection, they
should contact the HR Adviser – Equality and Diversity by 27 February
2015.
(c) Recruitment and Selection Report
REPORTED: (by the HR Manager (Administration))
19/14-15
(i)
That due to system difficulties, a report on recruitment and
selection activities for 2014 is not yet available.
(ii)
That six months of recruitment data will be presented at the
May 2015 Equality and Diversity Committee meeting.
(iii)
That recruitment data for the whole of 2014 will be presented in
the Workforce Profile Report, which will be considered at the
Committee meeting in October 2015.
Widening Participation and Student Recruitment
REPORTED: (by the Senior Assistant Registrar (Outreach))
(i)
That the HEFCE funded postgraduate support scheme for WP in
postgraduate taught programmes has enabled 71 students from
diverse backgrounds to enrol on taught Masters courses.
(ii) That in December 2014, HEFCE announced the 2014/15 scheme
which is open to qualifying potential postgraduate students from
underrepresented groups to apply to taught Masters courses.
(iii) That the 2014/15 scheme will be publicised on 9 February 2015.
(iv) That Warwick has been allocated 102 awards, each worth
£10,000, applicable to students from qualifying criteria, such as
household income, DSA, low socio background and being 21 plus
when starting undergraduate studies.
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(v) That the deadline for applications on the scheme will be 31 March
2015 and candidates will be informed of decisions in late June.
(vi) That students need to be in their third year of study to be eligible
and already have an offer of a place.
(vii) That some institutions are unable to take up the offer of places
from HEFCE, as each offer is reliant on matched funding.
(viii) That changes in the scheme may occur in 2015/16, when the
scheme may move to a postgraduate loan scheme, which is
currently being developed by BIS.
(ix) That whilst significant progress is being made in reaching the WP
access targets, data collection is problematic as students often do
not validate their information.
(x) That Warwick has successfully met two access targets for
2014/15 - for students from state schools and socio-economic
groups, but fell short by 4.5% (11 students) on full time entrants
from low participation neighbourhoods.
(xi) That data is not yet available for mature students and male
primary teachers.
(xii) That it would be interesting to hear from the group what other data
they would like reports on – ethnicity, gender, disability, for
example.
REPORTED: (by P Scott)
(i) That the outlined timetable for the HEFCE scheme is very unhelpful in
mapping against the student cycle and was there anything that could
be done to change this?
REPORTED: (by N Shiers)
(i) That it would benefit members if a report outlining the data could be
made available prior to the meeting.
RESOLVED:
(i) That the Chair will make some enquiries with regard to the HEFCE
timescales of the scheme.
(ii) That the Senior Assistant Registrar (Outreach) produces a report
benchmarking Warwick’s data against other comparable Russell
Group Universities.
20/14-15
Race Charter Mark and BME Staff Network
REPORTED: (by the Assistant Registrar (Learning & Teaching) for the
Faculty of Arts)
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(i) That the Equality Challenge Unit are currently trialling a Race Charter
Mark with a number of universities, of which 7 are Russell Group
universities.
(ii) That the BME Staff Network Group is keen for Warwick to take part in
the Charter when it is formally launched later in 2015.
(iii) That work should begin now to ensure that Warwick is in a position to
submit for the Charter Mark in the first submission round.
(iv) That the Charter requires a survey to be completed as a compulsory
part of the submission.
REPORTED: (by G McGrattan)
That the PULSE staff survey is due to be carried out in June/July 2015
and therefore consideration should be given to the proposed timing of an
additional survey.
REPORTED: (by R Roke)
That it would be useful to see how Warwick’s BME data benchmarks
against other Russell Group Universities.
RESOLVED:
(a) That the Committee supported the request that Warwick should take
part in the Race Charter Mark pending further details, and that the HR
Adviser – Equality and Diversity report to the next meeting of the
Equality and Diversity Committee once these details are known.
(b) That benchmarking data will be obtained and reported at a future
meeting.
21/14-15
Equality and Diversity in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework
REPORTED: (by the HR Adviser - Equality and Diversity)
(i) That the Equality and Diversity Advisory Panel for the REF 2014 have
produced a report outlining observations on the effectiveness of the
equality measures taken during the REF and providing
recommendations for future REFs.
(ii) That the Report commended HEIs for the work undertaken adopting
practices that represented a systematic improvement since the
previous assessment exercise in 2008.
(iii) That overall, the measures taken have supported the inclusion of a
wider pool of individuals who might have previously been excluded.
(iv) That the REF has helped raise the profile of equality and diversity in
research careers, seeking to influence genuine cultural change.
(v) That the REF equality measures have helped influence cultural and
management changes within the sector with REF-like processes
being applied in key areas such as promotion and reward.
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(vi) That submission of a Code of Practice for the REF should remain a
mandatory requirement for future exercises.
(vii) That in 2008, 7,016 individuals were submitted with fewer than 4
outputs (12.2% of staff), whereas in 2014, staff submitted with
circumstances had significantly increased to 29.2%, indicating that
the new arrangements have enabled institutions to be more inclusive
in their submissions, and that staff trusted the process and were
provided with a safe environment in which to disclose their
circumstances.
REPORTED: (by P Scott)
That without concise and real data it is difficult to understand whether
there had been a real improvement in staff with circumstances submitting,
or whether just higher numbers of staff, such as early career staff, had
been submitted.
RESOLVED:
That the Chair would make enquiries to see if Russell Group
Benchmarking data on the REF 2014 was available, and if this could be
reported at the next meeting.
22/14-15
Student Disability Services
(a) Disability Interest Group
RECEIVED:
The notes of the Disability Interest Group meeting held on 12 January
2015.
REPORTED: (by the Disability Coordinator)
(i)
That a number of complaints had been received around campus
accessibility, in particular relating to temporary routes that are
inaccessible for users with mobility issues, and changes to bus stop
locations.
(ii) That on a number of occasions, contractors undertaking work on
campus had been parking in disabled bays or blocking them.
(iii) That a student wellbeing session that had been held had been very
well received.
REPORTED: (by P Scott)
That Estates should take steps to ensure that contractors comply with
commitments that appear in tender/contract agreements.
(b) Disabled Student Allowance
(i) That a working group would be formed involving key departments, to
discuss the impact and proposals resulting from the proposed
changes of the Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA).
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RESOLVED:
(a) That Estates be approached by the Disability Coordinator to see if
penalty clauses in contracts can be enforced to avoid future issues.
(b) That the Chair investigate with Estates if a more proactive approach
can be taken with regard to linking the various infrastructure projects
so that accessibility issues can be an integral part to the project
planning and that changes to access can be communicated with
advanced notice.
23/14-15 Equality and Diversity Network
RECEIVED:
A copy of the notes of the meeting of the Equality and Diversity Network
held on 21 January 2015.
REPORTED: (by the Chair of the Equality and Diversity Network)
(i)
That the format of the Equality Network meetings had been re-shaped
to become more interactive and for each meeting to cover a number of
themes.
(ii) That a record number of participants attended the last meeting,
including senior staff representation.
(iii) That at the last meeting ‘Age’ and the ‘Dignity at Warwick event’ were
discussed and the following points were highlighted:
(a) That students required information on the Dignity at Warwick policy
in the first week of the first term.
(b) That more work needs to be done in raising awareness of the
Dignity at Warwick Policy and the role of dignity contacts.
(c) That due to cultural differences, some international students may
not understand what might be considered as bullying and
harassment.
(d) That sometimes office banter goes too far.
(iv) That due to the success of the last meeting, Network members had
requested that more network meeting takes place each term.
RESOLVED:
(a) That the Equality and Diversity team continue to raise awareness of
the Dignity at Warwick Policy and the role of dignity contacts, and liaise
with the students union with regard to promoting the policy in the first
term of each academic year.
(b) That the Equality and Diversity team meet with staff from the
International Office to determine what could be done to help
international students and staff to better understand the culture at
Warwick.
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(c) That efforts be made to recruit academic members of staff to become
dignity contacts.
24/14-15
Equality and Diversity Training
REPORTED: (by the Equality and Diversity Coordinator)
(a) That the Equality and Diversity training sessions, which include
Disability Awareness are continuing to receive excellent feedback.
(b) That in 2014, the two e-learning modules ‘Diversity in the Workplace’
and ‘Recruitment and Selection have seen a significant increase in the
number of people successfully completing the modules.
25/14-15
Any Other Business
(a) KPIs
REPORTED: (by the HR Advisor – Equality and Diversity)
That the University were currently developing a number of KPIs, and one
on Senior Staff Profiles had been submitted as an equality KPI.
REPORTED: (by D Wallis)
That it would be useful to benchmark Warwick’s data on senior staff
profiles with other Russell Group Universities.
RESOLVED:
That the HR Adviser – Equality and Diversity circulate an Equality
Challenge Unit publication on ‘Know your Numbers’, which presents a
snapshot of the disability, ethnicity and gender of staff and students in
higher education in the 2012/13 academic year.
(b) Half-Day Away Event for Equality and Diversity Committee Members
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
That a half-day away event will be organized for the committee at the
beginning of the next academic year to focus on statutory obligations and
education/strategic priorities.
26/14-15
Date of Next Meeting
TO REPORT:
That the date of the next meeting of the Equality and Diversity Committee
will be 15 May 2015 at 13:30 hrs in CMR1.0.
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