Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Minutes 14 January 2020

Minutes of the meeting of the Cardiff University Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee held on Thursday 14 January 2020 in room 4a/b, Students’ Union.

Present: Professor Karen Holford (Chair), Michelle Aldridge-Waddon, Michelle Alexis, Professor Rudolf Allemann, Professor Amanda Coffey, Deborah Collins, Dr Sam Hibbitts, Shekina Ortom, Professor Tim Phillips, Jude Pickett, Cadi Thomas and James Wareham.

In attendance: Julie Bugden, Karen Harvey-Cooke, Susan Cousins, Wyn Davies, Tracey Evans, [to minute 698.1], Beth John [to minute 698.2], Andrew Lane, Ben Lewis, Andy Lloyd, Sue Midha, Catrin Morgan, Rhian Roberts (on behalf of Professor Damian Walford Davies and Matthew Williamson), Tracey Stanley and Gail Thomas.

Apologies for absence were received from Professor Gary Baxter, Professor Kim Graham, Helen Obee Reardon, Clare Skidmore, Professor Damian Walford Davies and Matthew Williamson.

687 Welcome

Noted that the Chair opened the meeting and welcomed new members to the Committee.

688 Minutes

Received paper 19/116, ‘Minutes of the Meeting of the Cardiff University Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee’ held on
3 October 2019.

Noted that the minutes were confirmed to be an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

689 Matters arising

Received paper 19/289, ‘Matters Arising’.

Noted

Portraits in key rooms of University buildings [minute 661.5]

.1 that the Committee was scheduled to meet in the Students’ Union for the rest of the session;

.2 that the Director of Development and Alumni Relations had recently launched the ‘Notable Names’ project and members were encouraged to participate.

690 Items from the Chair

Noted

690.1 that the Chair reminded members of their responsibilities towards contributing to the effectiveness of the Committee. The Committee has a duty towards Governance Committee. It was therefore important that members contributed to the business of the Committee, attending meetings, reading papers and providing comment and feedback from their respective areas to inform lines of reporting;

690.2 that the Chair had met with the Chair of the Vice-Chancellor’s EDI Advisory Board, Rosie Moriarty-Simmonds, to discuss some activities and this would be shared with the Committee at a future meeting.

691 College/Professional Services update

Professor Rudolf Allemann, PVC for the College of Physical Sciences and Engineering provided an update on EDI initiatives and activities within the College.

Noted

691.1 the contribution of the former and current College HR Business Partner and the College EDI forum to the success of the activities and commitment to EDI;

691.2 the Returner Programme, co-developed with the College of Biomedical and Life Sciences and reported to the Committee at its previous meeting by the College PVC for BLS, was launched in December;

691.3 that open day processes and procedures had been reviewed with a consideration of EDI.  Mystery shoppers had been engaged and found the staff helpful but noted that additional work needed to be done on the directing of visitors around campus;

691.4 that following the success of the Mental Health Z-cards for students, one had been developed for line managers and would be distributed shortly;

691.5 that work had been done around staff disclosure, for example in the School of Mathematics the Head of School had circulated an email encouraging disclosure.  A discussion was held on the results of localised encouragement and the benefits of a multi-strand approach at University and School level;

691.6 that future plans included:

• Reviewing of admissions processes (open days and enrolment days)
• Mental Health awareness training for line managers
• Results awaited on the Project JUNO application for the School of Physics and Astronomy (Wendy Sadler was recognised for her contribution to this application)
• Schools were working towards the Athena SWAN charter.

692 Disability Staff Network

Received an oral presentation from Tracey Evans, Co-Chair of the Disability Staff Network.

Noted

692.1 that the network is receiving more enquiries from staff who have become disabled and network members provide reassurance on the university’s position in relation to reasonable adjustments;

692.2 that there had been no meeting in the Autumn semester, but the Main Building had been lit up again to celebrate International Day of Disabled Persons on 3 December and it was pleasing that the University recognised this annual event;

692.3 that past and future events and activities of the network include:

• the Disability Confident Employer scheme would be discussed at the next meeting
• the network had been consulted on University projects: Travel and Expenses Project and building plans for new builds
• a competition has been launched to identify a disability positive slogan to be printed on t-shirts;

692.4 a discussion was held on the current accessibility of the Students’ Union building and it was noted that whilst the lift was in place, other elements of the building site made access unsafe for mobility people;

692.5 a discussion was held on the Disability Confident Employer scheme.  It was noted that an initial review of it had shown that the University currently didn’t meet all elements of a Level 1 application. Recruitment was an area where work needed to be done to train those conducting interviews in providing support.  It was further noted that line managers would benefit from such training where there was a change in a staff member’s circumstances.

Resolved

692.6 that an alternative venue be found for the EDI Committee meeting on 12 May 2020;

692.7 that the University’s review of the Disability Confident Employer scheme would be presented to the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee for discussion at a future meeting.

693 Rhwydwaith Staff Cymraeg/Welsh Language Staff Network

Received an oral presentation from Wyn Davies, Co-Chair of Rhwydwaith the Welsh Language Staff Network.

Noted

693.1 that past and future events and activities of the network include:

• supporting the Dean for the Welsh Language with the launch of the Welsh Language Strategy
• considering the development of a Welsh language campus to be visible and inclusive
• developing initiatives to promote the Welsh language, such as a Word of the Day on screens around campus
• supporting the Diwrnod Shwmae Su’mae on 15 October 2019 and sponsoring the Salisbury Centenary in September 2019.

693.2 that the network had attracted new members recently and attendance at meetings was healthy.  The first meeting had established the networks focus going forward and the second meeting had been attended by the Welsh Language Commissioner;

693.3 a discussion took place on the Welsh Language Commissioner and how we can work together.  It was noted that the Welsh Language Commissioner had promoted an inaugural Welsh Language Rights Day and it was hoped this would be an annual event.  A proposal was made for the University to participate if the event proceeded on 6 December 2020.

694 Students’ Union Update

Received an oral update from James Wareham on the activities of the Students’ Union.

Noted

694.1 that Black History Month had been successful in terms of variety of events and attendance/participation;

694.2  that upcoming activities included:

• supporting LGBT History Month including a campaign on intersectionality
• a mental health campaign around the Six Nations and the influence of alcohol and drugs
• working with Development and Alumni Relations to implement a mentor scheme matching protected characteristics where possible in relevant fields
• raising awareness of accessibility around campus and seeking transparency about any changes or impacts
• EDI training workshop for volunteers who welcome students, to include a section on unconscious bias
• working with all Cardiff universities, the respective students’ unions and police to take a unified approach to safety at night to feed into the ‘It’s not on’ campaign.

695 Strategic Equality Plan 2016-20 – Annual Monitoring Report

Received and considered papers 19/296, ‘Strategic Equality Plan - Update on Actions’, 19/297, ‘Student Monitoring Data Report’ and 19/295, ‘Staff Monitoring Data Report’.

Noted

695.1 that these papers covered the final reporting period for the Strategic Equality Plan (SEP) 2016-20 and a final report which would help to inform the incoming SEP 2020-24;

695.2 that we needed to be clear whether the University had undertaken the activities it had committed to and what the impact had been;

695.3 that there were limitations to reporting solely on data and whilst qualitative data was important it didn’t always provide meaningful explanation of the results and that quantitative data could enhance this process.  It was further noted that the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Attainment Gap Group was looking at qualitative and quantitative data and could demonstrate the value of analysing both types of data;

695.4 that to provide percentages only could be misleading;

695.5 that in relation to student data it would be useful to know at what point this information was collected. People may disclose at any time and if this information was only reported as at the point of enrolment any changes wouldn’t be captured.  A query was raised whether this was information provided by UCAS or whether this was something the University gathered;

695.6 a discussion was held in relation to disclosure and that rates had increased following communication from the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, including an increase in disclosures of ‘prefer not to say’;

695.7 that in relation to student contextual information on other factors such as social class, prior attainment and Russell Group membership which would be likely to impact the results.  It was further noted that a project was currently underway looking at this point and the results were due in February/March.

Resolved

695.8 to include further detail on achievement of activities and impact;

695.9 to identify the source and gathering point of student data;

695.10 to include contextual information about the University within the student data report.

Resolved to recommend to Governance Committee

695.11 that subject to any further comments to be incorporated, the reports be endorsed for submission to Governance Committee at its meeting on 12 March 2020.

696 Strategic Equality Plan 2020-24

Received and considered paper 19/298, ‘Strategic Equality Plan 2020-24’.

Noted

696.1 that the new structure of the report was well-received and that SMART actions were still in development.  It was further noted that this had been informed by current strategies of the University: Widening Participation, People Strategy;

696.2 that comments made included:

• a proposal to add an action relating to disability and the recruitment process
• Objective 3 on pre-empting harm and repairing relationships was important however there was scope to consider the broader picture around the University culture towards inclusivity and how this can be embedded (management of meetings, inclusivity of teams)
• work was currently underway on values within the single Professional Service and that these would prove useful for the work on the new SEP in order to widen these values to all staff
• using proxy or quantitative measures would be another tool to help assess the University’s progress and achievement;

696.3 a discussion was held on the use of the Staff survey as a mechanism for monitoring. It was noted that it may not be necessary to add further questions to the survey, but the data could be disaggregated for analysis. Any areas identified could then be used to amend any operational plans where appropriate;

696.4 that any further feedback or comments needed to be provided by early February in order to meet Governance Committee deadlines;

Resolved

696.5 that the final plan would be circulated by correspondence to the Committee prior to submission to the Governance Committee;

696.6 that members could meet with the authors to discuss any comments and revise the plan accordingly or provide any comments by email.

697 Religion and Belief Policy

Received and considered paper 19/290, ‘Religion and Belief Policy’.

Noted

697.1 that the paper provided a draft of the Religion and Belief Policy and a copy of the supporting Equality Impact Assessment;

697.2 that the HR BP (AHSS) had been provided with feedback by PVC Head of College and would share this.

Resolved

697.3 that the policy be approved, subject to the feedback of the PVC Head of College (AHSS).

698 Race Equality Steering Group

Received and considered paper 19/291, ‘Race Equality Steering Group – update’.

Noted

698.1 that the paper provided the terms of reference and an update on the activities of the Race Equality Steering Group;

698.2 a discussion was held on the role of the group in the University’s Race Equality Charter application as this point was not clear from the terms of reference. It was recognised that whilst the Dean of EDI would co-ordinate the writing of the application, the Race Equality Steering Group would provide expertise and feedback;

698.3 a discussion was held around how the Group could be supported and a meeting with the central HR team was proposed, to be facilitated by the Dean of EDI.

Resolved

698.4 to consider the terms of reference for the Staff and Student Working Groups at a future Committee meeting.

699 LGBT+ Students and Allies Accommodation

Received an oral update from Ben Lewis, Head of Student Services.

Noted

699.1 that 23 students had been allocated rooms and there had been no wellbeing concerns;

699.2 that key points of note were

• there had been media interest, but this had been kept to a minimum to respect individuals’ privacy
• the number of applicants did not match up to room availability which meant empty rooms in some units
• the numbers matched those of the first year of the University of Sheffield’s scheme, the only other University to currently offer this accommodation
• feedback would be sought from the students at the end of the year;

699.3 this accommodation would be available for selection from February 2020 for 2020/21 admission.

Resolved

699.4 to review the outcome of the first complete pilot year for this initiative at the first meeting of the EDI Committee in the 2020/21 cycle.

700 Gender Equality Steering Group update

Received an oral update from Dr Sam Hibbitts, Dean for EDI.

Noted that a Chair had been recently appointed and the group were considering the membership, communications strategy and how to promote broader engagement.