Equality and Diversity Policy Impact Assessment Form
Policy /Practice/Section:
Review Date: February 2008
School of Medical Sciences
Staff Career Development and Appraisal
1 What does the Policy/Practice aim to achieve?
Career development and Appraisal processes are designed to support to develop and
progress in their chosen career and to contribute towards meeting the School’s objectives
2 Why was the Policy/Practice developed (what was the rationale?)
To provide a working environment in which staff are able to maximise their performance,
commitment and contribution to the aims of the University and develop their career.
3 Who are the stakeholders in the Policy/Practice?
All staff in the School of Medical Sciences with a particular emphasis on Academic staff
4 Which groups benefit from the Policy/Practice?
All staff
5 What methods were used to gather evidence for this assessment e.g.
meetings/briefings with staff, e-mail consultation, quantitative data gathering and
analysis, questionnaires etc?
Quantitative data gathering – both current data and historical data and a staff questionnaire
which was completed online
6 Is there any evidence of higher or lower participation or uptake by the equality
strands:
Race –
 Central HR records show the racial distribution for academic and research staff to be
79% white, 10% Asian, 2% mixed or other background and 8% undeclared.
 This broadly reflects the racial distribution declared by the respondents (59 from a
total of 203 staff) in the equality questionnaire.
 No detailed central record was available to reflect the wider European ethnic origins
or the religious background of the SMS academic and research staff.
 Ethnic & religious backgrounds given in the responses to the questionnaire indicated
a predominant white Scottish (50% or /British (37%) origin with either no religious
belief (45%) or a Christian belief (35%). Asian background accounted for 4%, mixed
ethnic background was 2%. The remaining declared belief systems were Hindu (2%),
Buddhist (2%), Muslim/other 3% with an remaining undeclared group of 14%.
 Detailed ethnic & religious data was not available for administrative or technical staff.
Gender – A detailed staff breakdown of the pattern of employment by post and gender was
made from both locally and centrally held data for the session 2007/2008.
This was compared with a similar data set for the session 1997/1998 and both sets of data
are summarised in Figures 1 & 2.
 The overall employment pattern for 2007/08 slightly favours females but with an
increasing proportion of males occupying the most senior positions.
 The current position shows a small improvement for females over that prevailing in
1997/98. The best improvements occur in the mid-range posts and the least
improvements with some losses for females seen in the senior positions (cf Reader,
97/98 v 07/08).
 The lower numbers of females in senior positions is at odds with their numbers in the
research assistant category, where they have been in the majority for 10 years, and

with the overall predominance of female graduates produced by the SMS disciplines
since 1994 (see later).
Data for administrative, secretarial and support staff are only available for the current
session. These posts (n=11) are predominantly occupied by females(64%)
Age – The SMS academic staff age distribution data is summarised in Figure 3.

The modal age range for male academic & research staff is 41-50 years.

The modal age range for female academic & research staff is 31-40 years.

It is difficult to account for the lower number of female staff within the age range 4150. The prevalence by males within this group is at odds with the pattern of
employment seen 10 years ago where the higher numbers of females occurring
within the research fellow group might have been currently expected to have
appeared within this age range.

The higher age range, 51-65 years, is dominated by male professors, 12 vs. 4
female professors.

The over 60’s group for all posts, whilst still dominated by males, is low and may
reflect an accelerated retirement policy.

In the age range 20-40 years the distribution of male and females is about even,
with an even distribution across posts.
Disability – Overall the University’s data on the numbers of disabled staff is incomplete and
very few people have identified themselves as disabled. Further attempts are being made
centrally to collect this data.
Sexual orientation – No quantitative data gathered
Religion and belief – No quantitative data gathered
7 Is there any evidence that different groups have different needs, experiences, issues
and priorities in relation to this policy/practice
The results of the questionnaire showed that
 Women were more likely to think that they were encouraged to undertake
development activities.
 Women were also significantly more likely to have undertaken recent staff
development. In terms of types of activity undertaken,
 men were slightly more likely than women to have attended both UK and International
conferences (40.7% of men compared to 35.7% of women).
 Men were also more likely to have engaged in self-study (22.2% of men compared to
14.3% of women) and slightly more likely to be involved in formal mentoring (22.2%
of men compared to 17.9% of women).
 By contrast women were significantly more likely to be involved in informal mentoring
(32.1% compared to 11.1% of men).
 Men were slightly more likely to have regular Appraisals than women but women
were more likely to think that Appraisals were useful and worthwhile.
There does not appear to be evidence that women suffer significant disadvantage in relation
to staff development and appraisal.
8 If adverse impact on minority groups exist, what is the level of risk ?
a) to the groups affected
There is a risk that women may find it more difficult to progress in the School than men or
may take a longer time to achieve promotion
b) to the University
There is a risk to the University that it is not fully recognising the value of female staff and
thereby running the risk of losing valuable staff.
How will the Policy/Practice be amended to reduce any risks identified?
There is not yet sufficient evidence to fully understand the reasons for the underrepresentation of women at more senior levels so further qualitative research is required
before changes to current practice can be suggested.
9 Do minority groups benefit positively from the Policy/Practice? In what way?
All staff should have access to development opportunities and Appraisal so all staff should
benefit.
10 Has the Policy been through a process of consultation with minority groups? If not,
who should be consulted?
All staff were consulted through the questionnaire. Of those who replied, 53% were women
and some 7% were from minority ethnic backgrounds. Staff were also asked about their
religion and sexual orientation. 13% declined to answer these questions, but of those who did,
most were Christian or had no religion. In terms of sexual orientation, most were heterosexual
with a small number who were gay.
11 Is there an opportunity to promote equality of opportunity or community relations
more effectively through the Policy/Practice, or by working with others?
There is an opportunity to promote positive action initiatives for women through the Athena
Swan charter or other similar initiatives. Further consultation would be required before any
action is taken.
12 This Impact Assessment will be signed off by the Joint Committee on Equal
Opportunities and be published on the Equality and Diversity website. Can you
suggest where else it should be published e.g. College/School/Section meetings,
websites, e-mail dissemination, team briefings?
A presentation has been prepared to disseminate the results within the School
13. If any action is proposed as a result of conducting this Impact assessment, please
record this below
Action proposed
By Whom
Date
Presentation of results to School
Frank Bowser-Riley
April 2008
Consultation with staff to determine
further actions required
Frank Bowser-Riley
May 2008