Forth Valley College Equalities Impact Assessment interim report 1. Introduction Forth Valley College is committed to the elimination of discrimination and the promotion of equality. The College has undertaken to conduct Equality Impact Assessments on College policies, practices and procedures to determine any negative impacts on equalities groups and to examine how the College can promote equality further. The College formed a cross college group of staff to carry out the Equality Impact Assessment process across the college. This group represents the main functions of the college from teaching, HR, marketing, administration, student support and curriculum and quality. Initially the College screened its main policies for equality relevance, these are listed in Appendix 1. 2. Full Impact Assessment From the list of policies listed in Appendix 1 a range of policies that the College felt required full impact assessment was agreed. These are listed as follows: Academic Honesty Complaints Health Safety and Welfare Learner Discipline Student Admissions Student Assessment Student Withdrawals Flexible Working Recruitment and Selection Prevention of Bullying and Harassment Attendance Management Staff Dismissal Redeployment and Redundancy Access to Training and Development Career Progression Staff Grievance Student retention and attainment is analysed by equalities profiles as part of ongoing portfolio and programme reviews. Appendix 2 summarises the work carried out so far for impact assessment. 3. Next steps The purpose of this document is to provide stakeholders – staff, students, partners, community groups – with the opportunity to tell us what they think. We wish all interested parties to: Tell us what you think of our suggested changes to policies If there are other ways we can prevent discrimination How we can promote equality Any other suggestions or changes we can make to ensure the needs of stakeholders are met We would like responses by 31 July 2009 Please respond to: equality@forthvalley.ac.uk or to: Diversity Co-ordinator, Forth Valley College, Room 2x, Grangemouth Road, Falkirk, FK2 9AD or call: 01324 403329 After this date the College will complete the impact assessments with full details of timescales for action and responsibilities for implementation. 4. Further information The full Equality Impact Assessment documentation is available on our website at www.forthvalley.ac.uk This publication is also available in other formats e.g. Braille, large print, audio tape, computer disk – if you wish to receive the publication in any of these formats please call 0845 634 4444. It is also available on our website at www.forthvalley.ac.uk Appendix 1: Equality Impact Assessment policies that have been screened for equality relevance Academic Honesty Policy Adoption Policy Alternative Assessment Arrangements Attendance Management Policy Child Protection Policy Complaints Policy Computer Equipment Loan Scheme Core Skills Criminal Disclosures Disability Equality Scheme Staff Dismissal Policy and Procedure Equal Pay Statement Equalities Policy Flexible Working Policy Support Staff Flexitime Scheme Gender Equality Scheme Policy on Gifts and Hospitality Staff Grievance Policy and Procedure Health, Safety and Welfare Policy Highlighting Concerns at Work Induction Guidelines Internal Assessment Appeals Internal Quality Audit Internal Verification Sampling Job Evaluation Policy and Procedure Learner Discipline Listening to Learners Maternity Policy Observation of Learning Personal Target Setting & Review Process Guidelines Portfolio Review Pre-delivery Planning and Standardisation Prevention of Harassment and Bullying Policy and Procedures Programme Approval Quality Management Recognition & Procedure Agreement between FVC and EIS Recruitment & Selection Policy & Procedure Redeployment and Redundancy Policy Retirement Policy Secondary Work Undertaken Outwith the College Self-evaluation Policy Statement Procedure for Applying for Attendance at External Conferences, Courses, Seminars or Workshops/Undertaking Further Studies/Industrial/Commercial/Work Placement Stress Management at Work Policy Working Practices Agreement – Lecturing and Support Staff Appendix 2: Summary of Equality Impact Assessment findings at April 09 Academic Honesty Policy The EQIA found that there was one recorded incidence in each of the two years 2006 and 2007. However anecdotal evidence suggests that low level breaches are being dealt with on an ad hoc informal basis within teaching departments. Suggested changes to reduce negative impacts and promote equality were: The policy should refer to support for learners to help them comply with Academic Honesty requirements More information should be given to learners as part of induction The learner information sheet on academic honesty should be rewritten in plain English More information should be given to staff about the policy Introduce a more formal recording procedure for breaches of the policy across campus Complaints Policy The EQIA found that 100% of complaints came from Scottish students. Why students from ethnic minority backgrounds did not complain should be addressed. In terms of disability the figure is similar with 100% of students complaining declaring no disability – this needs further investigation. In terms of gender the number of female students complaining is higher but there is a higher number of female students in the college 56% female to 43% male so this seems to be in line with the overall college profile. Suggested changes to reduce negative impacts and promote equality were: A statement on the College vision for equality should be added to the policy Information on racist incident reporting should be included in the policy and the promotional leaflet The leaflet promoting the complaints policy should be more visible in reception areas The promotional leaflet requires to include a statement on alternative formats Learner Discipline The EQIA revealed that the majority of discipline breaches are carried out by young white Scottish males. Suggested changes to reduce negative impacts and promote equality were: Learner discipline information should go on to the VLE for learners and it should be mandatory that students read this Learner discipline must be appropriately covered at induction Teaching departments must have a process for collating and analysing data on learner disciplinaries by equalities profiles Internal Assessment and Appeals The EQIA found that informal appeals are dealt with by Curriculum and Quality Leaders at a local level. Formal appeals are recorded by Departmental Administrators. For the year 07/08 there had been 2 appeals formally recorded. The low number of appeals would appear to indicate that the policy has neutral impact on equalities groups. Suggested changes to reduce negative impacts and promote equality were: Policies should go on to the VLE for students to access A second check by another staff member should be carried out when a student appeals informally Student Admissions The ethnic profile for the Forth Valley area is 1.13% (Census 2001). The percentage of Forth Valley College students from an ethnic minority background is 4.49% (07/08) The number of students at Forth Valley College declaring a disability is 7.5% (07/08). The baseline figure for students declaring a disability in Scotland was 14% in 2005/06 In terms of gender the college figure is 56% female, 43% male (07/08) and the 2005/06 baseline figure for Scotland was 57% female to 43% male. These figures seem to suggest that the College has a representative spread of students from these three groups. Further analysis in terms of disability was carried out on the number of students who had received no offer after interview and the data seems to show that in 2007 the percentage of applicants who were not offered a place who had a disability was 26%. Further analysis should be carried out on the reason for no offer. Suggested changes to reduce negative impacts and promote equality were: Mandatory interview training for staff Course information sheets should be produced by departments Constructive feedback after interview should be available – use a checklist Detailed feedback after interview to student records Analysis of withdrawal data to determine whether there is a link to student admissions Develop a student admissions policy to link to existing procedures Health, Safety and Welfare The EQIA revealed that in session 07/08 13 out of 178 incidents were related to a disability or existing medical condition, the nature of the incident was related to an individual’s existing condition e.g. asthma attack. Personal Emergency Evacuation plans exist for those students who request these. Suggested changes to reduce negative impacts and promote equality were: Make reference to personal Emergency Evacuation Plans and Inclusive Risk Assessments in the policy Add a statement to the policy to allow people from Equalities groups to feedback on their experience of the policy in practice Inclusive risk assessment procedures to be developed for all procedures that require risk assessment Amend First Aid procedure and Student Work placements procedure to include provisions for existing medical conditions and inclusive risk assessment Flexible Working The staff profile of FVC is 56% female and 44% male (2007) and 6.6% of staff have disclosed a disability. During 07/08 12 requests for flexible working were made, 11 from females. This may suggest that male members of staff are unaware that the policy includes them. Suggested changes to reduce negative impacts and promote equality were: The policy should make it explicit that civil partners are eligible for flexible working requests The policy should be promoted to all members of staff and highlighted that it is relevant to male and female members of staff and also same sex partnerships. Prevention of Harassment and Bullying In the previous year there was only one recorded incident of a harassment advisor being approached for advice. Suggested changes to reduce negative impacts and promote equality were: The policy should be re-written as two separate policies, one for staff and one for students The harassment advisory service should be re-launched with a new group of volunteers. Recruitment and Selection The EQIA looked at a sample of 5 recent vacancies where 71 applicants were interviewed. The sample showed that 10 out of the 71 applicants were from an ethnic minority background, 2 were registered disabled, and 45 were female. The College is a registered two ticks positive about disability employer. Suggested changes to reduce negative impacts and promote equality were: The FVC website requires to be revised to become compliant with DDA Applications should be anonymous Procedures should be drawn up to ensure staff are aware of the adjustments that can be made Applications could be made more accessible by being downloadable and a clear statement on the availability of other formats is required Data collection system requires to be introduced and monitored A clear statement on our commitment to Equality via the Equalities policy and our two ticks employer status should be on application documentation