Unapproved Minutes
UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX
EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY COMMITTEE
10 May 2012 Room 5S.4.11
2.00 pm
MINUTES
Chair
Present
Ms Judith Judd
Ms Karen Bush, Dr Wayne Campbell, Mrs Sue Endean, Ms Angela Jones, Mr Syd Kent,
Prof Peter Patrick, Dr Alison Rowlands
Secretary
In attendance
Mrs Karen Stephenson
Ms Hannah Lamb, Ms Marianne Provan,
APOLOGIES
Noted
The Chair noted that apologies had been received from Ms Rachel Earle, Ms
Rachel Fletcher, Mr Colin Macaulay, Dr David Pevalin, Prof Colin Riordan,
MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 7 February 2012
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Approved
MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
Mediation Service (M.87/11)
Reported
Mrs Endean reported that, having completed the options appraisal, a hybrid
model of in-house/external mediation provision is the preferred model for the
University to take forward. Prospective in-house mediators would go through an
accredited training course which could also be open to other organisations e.g.
the NHS, local Councils. Once qualified the in-house mediators would deal with
low-level cases. More complex cases would be handled by an external provider.
Mrs Endean is preparing final costings after which a preferred provider will be
identified.
Noted
Ms Provan made a request for a SU representative to take part in the mediation
training.
Action
Ms Endean to report back on progress at the next meeting.
Dignity and Respect Community Principles (M.90/11)
Reported
Dr Campbell reported that he had met with the Dignity and Respect Group
regarding the Dignity and Respect Community Principles, the wording of which
was agreed and the Principles have since been published. At the meeting it was
agreed that the Principles should be incorporated into the University’s ‘Values
and Behaviours’ document.
Action
Dr Campbell to amend the University’s ‘Values and Behaviours’ document.
Athena Swan (M114/11)
Reported
Mr Kent, Ms Bush, Prof Raines and Ms Alex Seabrook have met and a review of
how other institutions have implemented Athena Swan has taken place. Work is
underway on a data collection exercise and a timeline is also being prepared
with the aim of applying for a Bronze Award by November 2012.
Action
Ms Bush will report back at next meeting.
Student Statistics (M.20/12)
Reported
The Working Group has met and is using Equality Challenge Unit guidance, to
identify what information relating to students the University should publish and
how this compares to the information currently available. In addition the Group is
looking at the issues the Committee asked it to consider at its meeting in
February.
Action
Ms Bush will report back at the next meeting
Reported
Ms Fletcher informed the meeting that Executive members of the Chinese
Society were approached to take part in focus groups to try to find out why
Chinese students are under-represented as clients of Student Support in relation
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to the percentage of Chinese students in the overall student population. None of
the students attended. Student Support is now working with Chinese Societies
to try and make them aware of what Student Support is and what it offers.
Change of EADC membership (M34/12)
Reported
Ms Provan reported that the Students’ Union Council had agreed that the
Students’ Union Vice President International Students’ post could replace the
elected student member position on the Committee.
Noted
The Committee welcomed this change.
Action
Mrs Stephenson to amend the Terms of Reference to reflect the change and to
pass on to Council for formal approval.
Review of progress on Single Equality Strategy and Policy Action Plan, including progress
towards equality targets.
Reported
Ms Bush reported that after a review of actions, one year on, Equality and
Diversity are pleased with the progress made. The main points to note are:
 for some objectives, no actions have been taken – this is because the
action plan spans a three year period and some actions will take place
in future years;
 re action 2.1, although an Admissions Policy has been approved by the
University, it is not yet available on the web;
 re action 2.2, Equality and Diversity are working with Stonewall with
regard to a communications plan for the collection of data on sexual
orientation and religion and belief;
 re action 2.3, the Caring Responsibilities project is progressing well with
just under 400 survey replies received. (Post-meeting note: 500 survey
replies have been received.);
 there has been a very positive response to the communication sent to
Heads of Departments and Sections about the need to conduct Equality
Impact Assessments on the policies they own;

Noted
In the area of Admissions the Committee are keen to be kept updated about
ongoing work in relation to the recommendations that arose from the EIA
conducted in 2009
Action
Ms Bush to contact the Admissions Sub-Group to follow up on the progress of
the Admissions Policy and to request a further update on progress made on the
recommendations arising from the EIA conducted in 2009.
Noted
A full review of the Policy is due in 2014 but some minor revisions may take
place earlier due to the appointment of a new Vice Chancellor and to take into
account the University’s revised strategy.
Noted
Dr Campbell and Mr Kent both thanked Ms Bush for her hard work on the Action
Plan.
Noted
The current arrangements for following up on progress made against the
recommendations from an EIR panel are not satisfactory as the Committee only
receives information once, a year after the EIR has been completed.
Action
Equality and Diversity to consider how best to address this.
Harassment Advisory Network Equality Summary report
Reported
Mr Kent reported that the network with the new advisers is working well. In the
calendar year 2011 there were more staff cases than student cases. He also
thanked Ms Bush and Mrs Stephenson for their work with HAN and Ms Provan
thanked Mr Kent for his years of service to HAN.
Staff Equality Statistics including overview and analysis
Reported
Ms Bush reported that the information presented had been developed by the
working party constituted to look at what information the University should
publish in order to demonstrate it is meeting the general equality duty. Ms
Bush highlighted the main findings of the analysis of the statistics which related
to the disclosure of equality and diversity information, benchmarking and the
use of positive action and sought approval for the following recommendations;

any future benchmarking analysis of staff data should be conducted
against whichever group, or groups, the University decides is
appropriate;

consideration should be given, where appropriate, to using positive
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action to encourage under-represented groups to apply for particular
roles.
Approved
Noted
The Committee approved both recommendations.
The Committee commended the University on having a considerably higher
percentage of BME professorial and academic staff than the sector as a whole,
the 1994 Group and the East of England universities. The Committee also
found the breakdown of academic and research staff by gender and
department useful and suggested the statistics in future were broken down by
department across all protected characteristics for which information is
available.
Noted
There are imbalances in certain staff groups in terms of gender, age and
ethnicity. Ms Bush suggested that the Athena SWAN project may help address
this issue and several Committee members suggested that a more effective
appraisal system, mentoring and coaching could also be useful tools in
supporting staff.
Noted
Mrs Endean advised the Committee that work is currently being done to tie the
appraisal system in with the Annual Review cycle and that a review is taking
place of in-house management and leadership training provision. In addition,
the new Vice-Chancellor has also expressed the view that there could be a
better framework of support for staff seeking promotion.
Noted
A large proportion, 44.4%, of Professors at Essex are in the 56-65 age range
and only 11.1% are in the 36-45 age range. Mrs Endean advised that, due to
the abolition of a compulsory retirement age, the University’s Steering Group is
looking at the age profile of University staff to avoid a skills shortage.
Action
Equality and Diversity and Human Resources to investigate the possibility of
reporting staff statistics across all protected characteristics at department level
in the future.
REF Code of Practice
Reported
Ms Bush reported that the REF Code of Practice had been developed jointly by
the Research and Enterprise Office and Equality and Diversity and EADC were
being invited to make comments on it as part of the consultation process. Of
particular note is the commitment in the Code to conduct Equality Impact
Assessments at key stages of the selection process and the requirement for .
any member of staff involved in the selection process to have completed Module
1 of the Equality and Diversity online training programme. In addition face-toface REF-specific equality and diversity training is being given to members of the
Research Strategy Committee and the Individual Staff Circumstances
Committee. The draft Code will be submitted to Senate for approval on 4 July
so that it can be submitted to HEFCE by the deadline of 31 July 2012.
Agreed
The Committee recommended the following suggested changes and questions
be submitted to the Research and Enterprise Office for consideration:
 Update the RSC membership to reflect changes to the names of the
Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Graduate School and consider
whether it is necessary to include names of individuals.
 The Committee members are predominantly male – is there any scope
to change this?
 Set out more clearly the grounds for appeal and have a clear route for
staff to challenge decisions made about the quality of their research;
 Provide an option for external assessment before the appeal stage and
give external assessors guidelines on what is expected of them;
 Consider expanding the ‘Transparency’ section to cover transparency in
the operation of the procedures;
 In the EIA section, change the words - ‘If any unjustifiable inadvertent
discrimination’ to ‘If any discrimination…’ and set out exactly what is
meant by the ‘equality profile’ of staff.
Action
Ms Bush to pass these suggested changes and questions on to the Research
and Enterprise Office for consideration.
Positive Action in Recruitment
Agreed
The Committee agreed that the position adopted at the EADC meeting on the 12
May 2011, not to adopt Section 159 of the Equality Act, should remain
unchanged.
Any Other Business
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Noted
Noted
Action
Noted
The Committee joined Dr Campbell in wishing Mr Kent, Equality and Diversity
Officer, a very happy retirement. Dr Campbell paid tribute to Mr Kent for his
hard work in Equality and Diversity and as a member of the Equality and
Diversity Committee.
Mrs Endean thanked Dr Campbell, who is leaving the University, for his
contribution to the Equality and Diversity Committee.
Mrs Stephenson to invite the new Students’ Union Equality and Diversity Officer,
Mr Tyron Wilson and the new Students’ Union Vice President International
Students, Miss Jovanna Yiouselli, to the next EADC meeting on Tuesday 13
November 2012.
Date of next meeting : Tuesday 13 November 2012 in Room 5S.4.11 at 2.00 pm.
Karen Stephenson/Karen Bush - May 2012
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