THE UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
Equality and Diversity Committee
Minutes of the meeting of the Equality and Diversity Committee meeting held on the 8
February 2011.
Present:
Professor K Lamberts (Chair), Dr E Campbell, Professor E Hines,
Ms J Horsburgh, Mrs K Hughes, Mr S Jennings, Mr D Persaud, Mr M Potter,
Professor A Szczepura, Ms D Weber
Apologies:
Professor B Jackson, Mr S Lamb, Ms D Markham
In Attendance: Mrs W Coy (Secretary), Miss A Davies
13/10-11 Terms of Reference and Membership
(a)
Terms of Reference
REPORTED:
That the Terms of Reference for the Equality and Diversity Committee for
2010/11 as set out in paper EDC01/10-11 (previously circulated) had been
approved at Senate on 26 January 2011.
(b)
Membership
REPORTED:
(i) That there had been some changes to the membership and the
approach outlined in EDC02/10-11 (previously circulated) had been
approved at Senate on 26 January 2011.
(ii) That Marguerite Standing was retiring from the Equality and Diversity
Group and the Committee thanked her for her contribution to the group
and wished her well.
RESOLVED:
That recruitment to the Equality and Diversity Committee in accordance with
the approach outlined in EDC02/10-11 commence immediately.
14/10-11 Minutes
RESOLVED:
That the minutes of the meeting held on 1 November 2010 (previously circulated)
be approved.
15/10-11 Matters Arising
(a)
Single Equality Action Plan (minute 4/10-11 refers)
REPORTED:
That the briefing note as set out in paper EDC03/10-11 (previously
circulated) had been updated and circulated to Council and Senior Officers
for information.
(b)
Budget (minute 10/10-11 refers)
REPORTED:
That the budget would be managed by a small group consisting of Prof K
Lamberts, Mrs W Coy, Ms J Horsburgh and Mr S Lamb.
16/10-11 Single Equality Action Plan
CONSIDERED:
An updated version of the Single Equality Action Plan as set out in paper
EDC08/10-11 (previously circulated) it being noted that following a meeting with
the Athena Swan Group that their actions had been added so everything was in
one place.
RESOLVED:
That action points 6 and 7 be updated with new end dates rather than be
removed, as they were pending the outcome of the Quality & Impact Assessment.
17/10-11 Equality and Diversity Network
CONSIDERED:
The minutes of the Equality and Diversity Network meeting held on 24 January
2011 as set out in paper EDC09/10-11 (previously circulated).
REPORTED:
(a)
That no major issues had arisen at the meeting.
(b)
That there was some concern in departments regarding the impact on
recruitment in relation to Certificates of Sponsorship.
(c)
That the University had exhausted its existing quotas of Certificates of
Sponsorship until the new quotas were released.
RESOLVED:
That the group be kept updated on information on the status of Certificates of
Sponsorship so this could be fed back to departments.
18/10-11 Items from the Equality and Diversity Network
RECEIVED:
A verbal update from Ms D Weber on the document ‘Managing Reasonable
Adjustments in Higher Education’ paper EDC10/10-11 (previously circulated). It
being noted that:
(a)
the underlying principle of the report was to improve organisation
approaches to these issues from being reactive to proactive.
(b)
the benefits of cost and time efficiency from implementing some of these
elements should be drawn to the notice of the organisation.
(c)
there were clear recommendations on page 25 of the report that needed to
be taken into account.
RESOLVED:
(i)
that the document be referred to the Deputy Registrar and that they be
asked to recommend who would be responsible in the relevant areas and
the impact on resources
(ii)
that the document be circulated to all Senior Officers.
19/10-11 Disability Interest Group
RECEIVED:
A copy of the minutes of the meeting of the Disability Interest Group held on 19
January 2011 as set out in paper EDC11/10-11 (previously circulated).
REPORTED:
That Ms D Weber thanked the Alumni Office who had given funding for disabled
students which was being used for a variety of services and equipment.
20/10-11 Equality Challenge Unit Report
RECEIVED:
An oral report from Mrs W Coy on the Equality Challenge Unit report, it being
noted that:
(a)
the University disability figures were similar to the national return, with 3% of
people declaring disability. This has been put down to the fact that more
were declaring as the organisation became more supportive.
(b)
academic staff on fixed term contracts in the report was 35.3% (nationally)
compared to the University figures of 35.1%.
(c)
benchmarking figures for BME have been requested.
21/10-11 Appointments
REPORTED:
That Equality and Diversity Adviser post within Human Resources would be
advertised and would be sited within Warwick Medical School. The post would
report to the WMS HR Manager within a University wide remit for Equality and
Diversity.
RECOMMENDED:
That Ms J Horsburgh would talk to Mr D Persaud regarding the portfolio for this
new role.
22/10-11 Any Other Business
(a)
Athena Swan
REPORTED:
That the group was focusing on supporting more departments to make their
application by April 2011. Others departments would be aiming to make
their application for November 2011.
RECOMMENDED:
That Athena Swan be invited to the next meeting in May to give feedback
and disseminate information on the work they were doing and help get good
practice into other departments.
23/10-11 Date of Next Meeting
REPORTED:
That the date of the next meeting of the Equality and Diversity Committee would
be on Tuesday 31 May 2011 at 2.00pm in the Council Chamber, University
House.