UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
Equality and Diversity Committee
Minutes of the meeting held on 8 February 2012
Present:
Professor M Finn (Chair), Dr S Burrows, Dr E Campbell, Ms B Hay, Mrs J
Horsburgh, Mrs K Hughes, Ms I John, Mr D Persaud, Ms A Preston, Mr N Shiers,
Professor P Thomas, Ms D Weber, Mr S Williams
Apologies:
Professor A Dolan, Ms L Hayton, Professor E Hines, Dr R Jackson, Rev. S
Jennings, Mr S Lamb, Dr D Markham, Mrs C Martin, Mr M Potter, Dr M Shewring,
Ms S Smart, Professor A Szczepura
In Attendance:
17/11-12
Mrs S Beaufoy (Assistant Secretary), Mr I McKirdy (for item 15/11-12)
Terms of Reference and Membership
(a) Membership
REPORTED:
The Chair welcomed S Williams and N Shiers to the Committee. The Committee
now has a full membership.
18/11-12
Minutes
RESOLVED:
That the minutes of the Committee meeting held on 31 October 2011 be
approved.
19/11-12
Matters Arising
(a) Athena SWAN Charter
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
(i)
That Warwick Medical School submitted for a bronze award in November
and will know the outcome in March 2012.
(ii) That HR will be producing a framework for future submissions to assist
Departments make successful applications. Other SET departments are
being encouraged to start work towards their Athena submissions.
(iii) That collaborations with other Institutions that have been successful in
Athena bids be set up to share best practice and initiatives.
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RESOLVED:
That the HR Adviser – Equality and Diversity investigate the proportion of Russell
Group Universities who have been awarded Athena status and to report this at
the next meeting.
(b) Equal Pay Review – Update
REPORTED: (by the Director of HR)
(i) That following approval from the Steering Committee and Senate meetings,
condensed versions of the Equal Pay Reviews for Levels 1a-8 and Level 9,
have been published on the Equality and Diversity web pages in line with the
deadline, 31 January 2012, dictated by the specific duties of the Equality Act
2010.
(ii) That the legislation has been silent on the frequency of publishing Equal Pay
Reviews. Therefore a recommendation was made to Senate to take a light
touch review on an annual basis for Levels 1a-8, with a detailed review
through the formal routes every two years. For level 9, where there is a
disparity on gender data, it was recommended that a review is carried out on
an annual basis with the ownership resting with the Vice Chancellor’s
Advisory Group.
20/11-12
Single Equality Act
REPORTED: (by the Director of HR)
(i) That the Equality and Diversity web pages have been updated to include
relevant information required to demonstrate the University’s compliance with
the Equality Duty.
(ii) That the Equality Objectives have been approved by Senate and
subsequently recommended to Council for approval.
21/11-12
REF – Code of Practice
REPORTED: (by the Director of HR)
(i)
That Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are obliged under the REF
guidelines to prepare a Code of Practice (CoP). The requirements of the
CoP are more defined than in previous exercises and require HEIs to
document the methodology used to consider special circumstances. The
final guidelines from HEFCE have only just been received by the University,
but the CoP is already in draft form. There are two deadlines for submission
of the CoP, April 2012 and July 2012 and it is the University’s intention to go
for the April deadline.
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(ii) It was noted that the academic community welcomed that there were clear
guidelines with regard to maternity leave tariff and reduced outputs and it
was hoped that the same sensitivity could be extended to staff who have
been on long term sick leave.
22/11-12
Equality and Diversity Network
RECEIVED:
A copy of the minutes of the meeting of the Equality and Diversity Network
meeting held on 23 January 2012.
REPORTED: (By the Chair of the Equality and Diversity Network)
(a) Returning Parents Mentoring Scheme and Network Group
That the Network wholeheartedly supported the Returning Parents Mentoring
Scheme and Staff Network Group.
(b) National University Mental Health and Wellbeing Day – 22nd February 2012
(i) That the Network supports the National University Mental Health and
Wellbeing Day scheduled for 22 February 2012.
(ii) That the Chief Executive Officer of ‘Time to Change’ Mental Health and
Wellbeing awareness programme will be visiting the University on 22
February 2012. The Vice Chancellor and the Students Union intend to
sign pledges supporting the programme.
23/11-12
Disability Interest Group
RECEIVED:
A copy of the minutes of the meeting of the Disability Interest Group meeting held
on 22 November 2011.
REPORTED: (by the Disability Coordinator)
(a) Campus Accessibility and Ongoing Works
This item will be discussed in more detail in item 30/11-12.
(b) Special Examination Arrangements
(i) That some departments had expressed concerned over the limited
amount of resources available to support special examination
arrangements.
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(ii) That some students were asking for reasonable adjustments for exams
just before the exam was due to be taken. Departments are finding it
increasingly difficult to accommodate these requests and asked for
guidelines on how to handle such requests.
(iii) That there appears to be no consistency across departments on how
special examination arrangements are monitored or how sensitive
information on students with disabilities is handled.
RESOLVED:
(i) That the University engages with students to encourage earlier disclosure
of disabilities so adequate support can be put in place in readiness of
examinations.
(ii) That case studies be used to demonstrate to students the positive
support mechanisms in place for students with disabilities who disclose.
(iii) That the University produces ‘Guidelines for Invigilators’ outlining special
examination arrangements.
(iv) That the Chair of Faculties explores the possibility of the creation of a
database of staff available for invigilating.
(v) That creation of a standard template on the Special Examinations
Process be investigated through the Teaching Review.
(vi) That SSLC representatives be asked to support students through the
process of requesting special examination arrangements.
(c) Disabled Student Survey
(i) That the response rate for the Disabled Student Survey is generally low
and therefore the results are indicative and not conclusive. However the
survey does provide useful information and will be repeated this year.
(ii) That one of the main focus points from the survey was that more
investment in the social side of university life for students with disabilities
is required.
(iii) That work on improved access to the Students Union building is in its final
stages.
(iv) That NUS had published a report on Hate Crime against disabled
students.
(v) That the School of Life Sciences had produced a policy for students with
disabilities.
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RESOLVED:
(i) That NUS Report on Hate Crime against disabled students is circulated to
members of the committee.
(ii) That the Disability Coordinator reports on the Life Science policy for
disabled students at the next meeting.
24/11-12
Equality and Diversity Training
REPORTED: (by the Assistant Secretary)
(a) That the Equality and Diversity training given by the external training provider
had been well received.
(b) That further training sessions scheduled for February and March 2012 had
already attracted over 100 staff registering for places.
(c) That since October 2011, 78 members of staff had taken the e-learning
module ‘Diversity in the Workplace’.
RESOLVED:
HR Adviser – Equality and Diversity to investigate if students can take the
‘Diversity in the Workplace’ e-learning module.
25/11-12
Staff Network Groups
REPORTED: (by Assistant Secretary)
(a) That two staff network groups have recently been formed, the Returning
Parents group and the LGBT group. Information on the two groups is
available on the Equality and Diversity web pages.
26/11-12
HESA – Changes to Staff Data
REPORTED: (by the Assistant Secretary)
(a) That the University, as per HESA’s reporting requirements which are driven
by the National Census, will start to collect monitoring data on sexual
orientation and religion or belief with effect from 2012.
(b) That a data cleansing exercise is planned in the near future and these
options will be introduced sensitively as part of that exercise.
27/11-12
HESA – Changes to Student Data
REPORTED: (by the Student Welfare Officer)
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(a) That N Snodgrass from the Academic Registrars Office had approached the
Students Union to consult with them about the proposals from HESA to
collect data on sexual orientation and religion or belief.
(b) That the Students Union welcomed this invitation and recorded its
appreciation of the opportunity to express their views.
(c) That consultations had taken place with students, with some expressing
disappointment that this type of data collection was proposed, as it is a
particularly sensitive area for transgender students.
(d) That HESA have been approached by a number of student unions to
communicate their disagreement with this type of data collection.
(e) At a recent General Meeting of the Students Union, students had passed a
motion to take a stance against this type of data collection.
RESOLVED:
That an email to be sent to N Snodgrass, copied to the Academic Registrar to
record the Students Union’s appreciation for being consulted on this issue.
28/11-12
Gender Neutral Toilets
REPORTED: (by the Student Welfare Officer)
That to support transgender staff, students and visitors, a request for gender
neutral toilets with appropriate signage be considered.
REPORTED: (by Director of Student Support)
That the request for gender neutral changing facilities had also been made to the
Estates Office and Sports Centre which will be looking into this as part of their
agenda of forthcoming projects.
RESOLVED:
Progress on these facilities to be reported at next meeting.
29/11-12
Equality Analysis Package
REPORTED: (by the Assistant Secretary)
(a) That the University had purchased an Equality Analysis package to assess
strategic policies for potential discrimination against people from protected
characteristics groups.
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(b) A focus group has been established to customize the package to Warwick’s
requirements and to manage the roll out of the package to the wider
university community.
30/11-12
DisabledGo
RECEIVED:
(a) That the University has received a proposal from a company called
DisabledGo to provide a web-based Access Guide of the University campus
facilities for disabled people.
(b) That Edinburgh University had undertaken a similar project in-house and it
was felt that Warwick could replicate this by creating its own facility on its
website, by pulling together some existing work has already been done by
Estates and the Disability Office.
RECOMMENDED:
31/11-12
(i)
That the HR Adviser, Equality and Diversity contacts the DisabledGo
company to inform them that the University rejects their proposal.
(ii)
That the University investigates undertaking a similar project in-house.
(iii)
That the Health and Safety Officer refers the report to the Deputy
Registrar and the Academic Registrar for consideration for funding.
(iv)
That the Health and Safety Officer reports on progress at the next
meeting.
Any Other Business
There was no other business.
32/11-12
Date of Next Meetings
REPORTED:
That the date of the next meeting is Tuesday 22 May 2012 at 10:30 hrs in the
Institute of Advanced Study Seminar Room.
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