THE UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
Minutes of the meeting of the Equality and Diversity Committee held Monday 24th
May 2010.
Present:
Professor A Caesar (in the Chair)
Dr J Burns
Ms S Byrne (Secretary)
Ms J Horsburgh
Professor R Jackson
Dr A Johansen
Mr D Persaud
Mr M Potter
Dr M Shewring
Ms M Standing
Ms R Mason
Dr R Thiara
Mr S Wannell
Ms D Weber
Apologies:
Mrs W Coy (Secretary)
Dr E Hines
Professor J Hutton
Mrs K Hughes
Mr S Lamb
Ms D Markham
Professor S Singh
Revd Dr S Jennings
In attendance: Mrs B Hatfield, HR Advisor (for item 31/09 -10), Director of MOAC (for
item 32/09 -10).
28/09 - 10
Minutes
RESOLVED:
That the minutes of the Committee meeting held on 9 February 2010
be approved.
29/09 - 10
Pulse Survey (minute 18/09-10 refers)
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
That the low incident rate did not correspond to the low take up rate
and that it was possible to report and record information for bullying
harassment incidents through the HR function and not line
management.
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30/09 - 10
Annual Report on Equality and Diversity
CONSIDERED:
(a) The Annual Report on Equality and Diversity) detailing progress
on equality and diversity in 2009/10 (EDC Paper 11/09-10).
(b) The revised and updated Single Equality Action Plan detailing
progress on equality and diversity actions in 2009/10(EDC Paper
12/09-10).
RESOLVED:
(a) That the Annual Report on Equality and Diversity as set out in
EDC Paper 11/09-10 be approved.
That the Secretary liaise with the Director of Management
Information and Planning to identify how many students were
parents with a view to reporting this data at the next Equality and
Diversity Committee meeting.
(b) That the revised and updated Single Equality Action Plan
as set out in EDC Paper 12/09-10 be approved.
31/09 - 10
PULSE: Staff Survey 2009 Results
RECEIVED:
A report relating to the Pulse: Staff Survey 2009 results (EDC Paper
13/09-10, tabled at meeting).
REPORTED: (by Mrs B Hatfield, HR Adviser)
(a) That, although the response rate was now up to 62%, there
were some less positive results in light of the context of changes
the University had endured throughout 2009/10.
(b) That in relation to Equality and Diversity there had been a 1%
reduction in the number of staff experiencing bullying or
harassment of any kind in the workplace.
(c) That one of the questions with the most significant reduction
compared to 2009 was whether the University offered equal
opportunities to staff; this was down 10% to 59% from the previous
year.
(d) That the Director of HR was chairing the PULSE Action Team,
noting that further analysis of data would be available by
Department / Faculty, Gender, Employment Status, Age, Length of
Service, Job Type / Grade, Ethnicity and Disability.
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RESOLVED:
That the Committee review the report as tabled under paper EDC
Paper 13/09-10 and that any comments or queries be forwarded to the
Chair.
32/09 -10
Athena Swan
RECEIVED:
A final copy of the University application for the Bronze Athena Swan
EDC 20/09 -10 award was tabled.
REPORTED: (by the Director of MOAC)
(a) That the reports showed that there were low numbers of women in
grade 9 positions with the numbers declining from grade 6
upwards.
(b) That there was a recognised requirement to have more women on
the senior management team and that the Steering Committee
planned to address this, acknowledging that it would take some
time.
(c) That the final Athena Swan application would be available on the
University intranet in due course.
RESOLVED:
The Committee consider the Athena Swan action plan at a future
meeting with a view to identifying areas of overlap or areas of potential
engagement.
33/09 -10
Equality and Diversity Issues Relating to Students
RECEIVED:
(a) The graduate destination data and equality and diversity practices
in careers and employability work (EDC Paper 14/09-10), together
with an oral report from Head of Information and Operations and
Student Statistical Office, Student Careers and Skills.
(b) A report from the Assistant Registrar (UG Admissions) and
Assistant Registrar (PG Admissions) outlining statistics relating to
students (EDC Paper 15/09-10), together with an oral report.
34/09 -10
Disability Budget
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
That there was some money to be allocated from the Equality and
Diversity budget to be spent this financial year.
RESOLVED:
That members forward any potential bids for the available funds to the
Secretary for consideration.
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35/09 -10
Single Equality Act
RECEIVED:
The ECU Guidance to date for information. (EDC Paper16/09-10).
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
(a) That the Single Equality Bill received royal assent in April 2010
and would become the Single Equality Act 2010 effective from
October 2010.
(b) That the Equality Challenge Unit reported that:
(i) All major provisions within the Bill had remained intact with
amendments tabled in the House of Lords incorporated into
the final version of the Bill.
(ii) Very few provisions within the Equality Act would be
implemented immediately, as most need to be enacted by
Ministers after the general election.
(iii) The majority of the new legislation was expected to come in to
force in autumn this year, with the general public duty (a duty
placed on public bodies including higher education institutions
to proactively promote equality) more likely to follow from April
2011:
(A) October 2010: Main provisions.
(B) April 2011: The integrated public sector Equality Duty,
the Socio-economic Duty and dual discrimination
protection.
(C) 2012: The ban on age discrimination in provision of
goods, facilities, services and public functions.
(D) 2013: Private and voluntary sector gender pay
transparency regulations (if required) and political
parties publishing diversity data.
(iv) The Equality Act sought to:
(A) Consolidate and streamline current antidiscrimination legislation
Nine major pieces of primary anti-discrimination
legislation and around 100 statutory instruments are
being consolidated into one Act.
(B) Introduce a range of new specific measures that
will have direct implications for higher education
institutions
Including an extended definition of positive action to
enable employers to address significant patterns of
under-representation amongst their staff, the
publication of gender pay gap data by individual HEIs,
a ban on the use of pre-employment health
questionnaires and extended legal protection for
women when breast-feeding.
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(C) Make the law more explicit in the extent to which it
covers the 'protected characteristics' of pregnancy and
maternity, marital or civil partnership and gender
reassignment status.
(D) Make it easier for people to bring cases of
discrimination and extending the powers of
employment tribunals
It will be possible for people to bring cases of 'dual
discrimination' (for example, discrimination on the
grounds that a person is a black woman or a Muslim
man) and enable tribunals to make broader
recommendations for employers in response to the
circumstances of an individual case of discrimination.
(v) The ECU was currently producing a briefing which will provide
more information about the implications of the Equality Act for
the higher education sector.
(vi) The ECU was also working with the Equality and Human
Rights Commission as it develops codes of practice and nonstatutory guidance for higher education providers.
36/09 -10
Equality and Diversity Network
RECEIVED:
The minutes of the meeting of the Equality and Diversity Network held
on 12 May 2010 (EDC Paper 17/09-10).
37/09 -10
Disability Interest Group
RECEIVED:
The minutes of the meeting of the Disability Interest Group held on 10
June 2009 (EDC Paper 18/09-10).
38/09 -10
Alterations to the University of Warwick Pension Scheme (UPS)
RECEIVED:
A summary of Equality and Diversity implications for the changes to
Warwick Pensions Scheme (UPS) (EDC Paper 19/09-10 refers)
REPORTED: (by the Director of HR)
(a) The Equality and Human Rights Commission had contacted the
University in February 2010 to remind the University of its
obligations in respect of the public sector equality duties on
disability, gender, and race.
(b) In particular had queried whether the University had considered
the implications of making amendments to UPS (whose members
are largely female) and whether the proposals might cause
disparities in treatment between UPS members and academic staff
who were predominately male and members of USS.
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(c) That the University had sent a full response to the EHRC in March
2010, together with a slightly revised Equality Impact Assessment.
39/09 -10
Date of Next Meeting
RESOLVED:
That the schedule of meetings for the next academic year would be
circulated by the Secretary once the University Committee Timetable
for 2010/11 had been finalised.
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