Equality Policy. Equality Practice and Procedure

Transcription

1 G16 Equality Policy Equality Practice and Procedure This document will be made available in other languages upon request. All policy documents are maintained and updated in line with legislative and statutory changes irrespective of Review Date. Date of Issue: December 2013 Review Date: December 2015 Lead Director: Persons Responsible for Update: Director of HR & OD HR Business Partner Approved on: 26 November 2013/12 December 2013 Approved by: Published: Senior Management Team/College Board Staff Intranet, Student Intranet and Website Date of Equality Analysis: December 2013

2 Equality Practice and Procedure 1 BACKGROUND 1.1 The College is a specialist provider of Vocational Education and Training in Further and Higher Education for Communities, Businesses and Industries which are mainly, but not exclusively, rural and land based. 1.2 The College is committed to providing an inclusive and supportive environment where our diverse population of students and staff can learn, work and thrive using their talents to the full and reaching their potential free from discrimination and harassment. 1.3 We strive to promote equality of opportunity in all our policies, practices and procedures and will vigorously challenge unacceptable behaviour or conduct. We also strive to promote opportunity for expanding the learner and staff bodies by accepting and supporting integration. 2 COLLEGE VISION AND VALUES 2.1 Vision The College mission is to inspire individuals, communities and rural businesses by delivering world class education and skills accessible to all The College vision for all staff and students is to: Achieve excellence in all our activities Provide world class facilities and resources for our learners, customers, employers and staff Generate and support innovation and enterprise Maintain momentum and growth through local, regional, national and international partnerships Maintain our position as the recognised premier specialist land-based college Widen participation and continue our commitment to equality and diversity in all our activities Be innovative in customising solutions in response to employer and sectoral demand 2.2 Our Core Values People: P R I D E We are passionate about learners, staff and customers and place them at the heart of all we do by supporting, developing, empowering, encouraging, respecting and valuing their contributions. Responsibility: We encourage individuals to be responsible for their actions and decisions, and we promote community cohesion and environmental sustainability through our behaviour. Integrity: We believe in honesty and integrity and the highest ethical standards in everything we do. 2

3 Diversity: We recognise and respect diversity. Excellence: We challenge ourselves to strive for the highest standards of quality and behaviour by adopting a supportive self-critical approach in our pursuit of excellence. 2.3 Values Development Staff development sessions have taken place on separate training days during this year for all staff to consider further the values and the behaviours which will support staff and students in the context of the stated values. 3 CURRENT POSITION FOR THE COLLEGE Infrastructure and Strategy 3.1 The College organises its Equality and Diversity strategy through the Principal and has an Equality and Diversity Committee which is chaired by the Principal. Policy implementation and review is carried out by Senior Managers responsible for the particular area e.g. Staff - Human Resources, Curriculum and Students Vice Principal and Director of Quality and Learning. There is a sub committee of the Governors (F & G P) which receives termly reports on Human Resources and Student Equality and Diversity matters and monitors and oversees the impact within the College. The overall responsibility is led by the Governing Body. 3.2 The Principal ensures active inclusion, value for diversity, quality treatment for all as well as overall management of compliance by ensuring the consistency between College policies, priorities and practice. 3.3 The College produces a Strategic Plan and each year and it is the role of the Directorate to measure progress against the plan and then uplift this for the following year in order to meet external and other needs. The latest Strategic Plan can be found on the College Sharepoint. 3.4 This process is then supported by Curriculum and Business Development Plans which are the responsibility of Managers in the organisation. Separate to these however the College has produced an Equality and Diversity Action Plan over the last 5 years. 4 Strategic Direction and Structure 4.1 The College has an Equality Action Plan which is rigorous in supporting the changes both in the law and changes in the community to ensure that it is supporting as robustly as possible all strands of equality legislation as well as the greater diversity of communities and our students and staff. 4.2 Members of the Directorate are responsible for the Strategic Direction for Equality and Diversity together with the E & D Focus Group, which represents the 5 areas of the College business. 4.3 Each Department is required toselect a member of staff who is to be on the E & D Focus Group. tthe main aim of the E & D Focus Group will be to promote and ensure the 3

4 College environment is one in which Equality and Diversity is monitored and evaluated for the effectiveness of the implementation of the strategy. 4.4 The E & D Focus Group together with the College Management Team will ensure that the College s responsibilities are discharged appropriately for monitoring and action planning under legislation as well as analysing and reviewing E & D data of both students and staff and share this information on a regular basis with managers and staff in order to inform planning and delivery 4.5 The Focus Group is responsible for raising any significant matters in connection with E & D and making recommendations and these after consideration are forwarded where appropriate for consideration through an E & D standard item on the weekly agenda of the Directorate and termly to the E & D Committee. 4.6 The E & D Focus Group will meet on a regular basis and will also support the professional development of staff and where appropriate contribute to sharing good practice and information from external events and networks through the various media available to them and in particular the College Newsletter Espresso and the College Sharepoint. E & D FOCUS GROUP E & D Champion for Curriculum Delivery E & D Champion for Students Development Director of Human Resources E & D Champion for Individualised Learning E & D Champion for Staff E & D Champion for Employer Engagement and Business 5 The Organisational Structure for Strategic and Operational Direction Reporting lines, Responsibilities and Communication 4

5 5.1 It is the responsibility of all members of staff to ensure that the principles of the Equality Scheme are applied to all staff and students within the College. 5.2 Managers have a direct responsibility for reviewing and reporting progress against the Equality Action Plan at the monitoring dates. 5.3 The E & D Focus Group is also responsible for overall monitoring and evaluation of E & D activities etc. They will report to the Directorate on a termly basis so that any issues can be dealt with at this level. They will also report termly with the E & D Committee. 5.4 The Directorate have an E & D agenda item on each of their meetings as a regular feature 5.5 An annual E & D report is submitted via the Directorate to the Governors. 5.6 The following flow charts represent the Responsibilities, Reporting and Communication duties for the Strategic and Operational Direction of Equality and Diversity. RESPONSIBILITIES AND REPORTING LINES GOVERNORS GROUP PRINCIPAL E & D COMMITTEE (Chaired by Principal Strategic & Advisory) E & D FOCUS GROUP (Sub Set of Champions Group) DIRECTORATE COLLEGE MANAGEMENT TEAM ALL STAFF ALL LEARNERS 5

6 COMMUNICATION/INFORMATION FLOW GOVERNORS LEARNERS PRINCIPAL E & D COMMITTEE and E &D FOCUS GROUP STAFF DIRECTORATE COLLEGE MANAGEMENT TEAM 6

7 6 Planning and Organisation 6.2 The Policy is a dynamic document and is informed by our current thinking and understanding of the issues we face. It has been informed by various activities which have enabled staff and students and to some extent the community we serve to have opportunity to support the improvement in the college so that the Scheme and the Action Plan are living documents. 6.3 The Scheme gives an overview of how we intend to meet our obligations under the legislation, statements for each of the equality strands and a Equality Plan. It is subject to approval through the College management structure and by the Board of Governors 6.4 All areas have a standard regular agenda item on all team meetings in order to monitor their activity and be supported by the E & D Focus Group. 6.5 The College works together with agencies and professionals in order to ensure learners and staff understand local community commitment to all aspects of Equality. 7 Impact Assessments 7.1 All College policies are reviewed and impact assessed. These Impact Assessments are monitored on a regular basis by the Directorate at least once per month in order to ensure that all policies which are being reviewed or presented have gone through the process. 8 Evaluation and Feedback methods 8.1 The College is committed to involving staff and students in the development, implementation, monitoring and review of the Equality Scheme and will use a variety of methods including questionnaires, focus groups, committees etc to contribute and advise on staff development needs and the reviewing and impact assessment of College policies and procedures. 8.2 The College also encourage the involvement of external community groups which represent particular Equality groups through both our existing partnerships and collaborations and the development of new ones. 9 Staff Development 9.1 The College has a staff development programme and this includes specific Equality and Diversity training for Champions as well as raising awareness sessions for Managers and Staff. 9.2 Within the College induction programme an e-learing package that foucses on E&D is completed by all new starters. 9.3 Equality and Diversity issues will have a higher profile in the learning teaching assessment and support in order to ensure curriculum accessibility through the provision of support to all Lecturers and Instructors. 9.4 Staff will be supported by line managers to attend appropriate staff development through the Professional Development Review process and if programmes are deemed mandatory ensure staff are released to attend. 7

8 10 EQUALITY ACTION PLAN 10.1 A comprehensive and detailed review and action plan to delivery our Equality Scheme within specified timescales with responsible staff named is part of the process for the E&D Committee 10.2 Managers of areas are responsible for leading the actions and monitoring these through regular review process in support of the E & D Committee and Focus Group 10.3 All staff are responsible for ensuring actions associated with their areas are completed within the time scale The action plan is monitored termly and is reviewed and refreshed annually in response to data and information which is gathered during the course of the year and beyond Statistical data is collected robustly through electronic methods as appropriate and these are analysed by the E & D Focus Group and the E & D Committee before presentation to the Governors. 12 EVALUATION, MONITORING AND COMMUNICATION 12.1 Progress is monitored closely and in addition to the annual monitoring report regular reviews will be submitted to the relevant committees and groups All the Equality documents will be reviewed annually and where appropriate amended as progress is made and the documents should be regarded as evolving All Equality documentation is accessible through the Diversity homepage of the College website The homepage will contain information on all aspects of Equality and Diversity with examples of good practice, details of staff development and links to other useful websites and information sources A regular input in to the College newsletter Espresso will alert staff and students to news and events. 8

9 Equality Analysis Form 1. Author: Andrew Turner Date analysis commenced: 19 th April Brief Description of Strategy, Proposal, Policy, Procedure or Practice Scheduled update to Policy Policy Name: Equality Policy Equality Practice and Procedure Policy Number: G 16 Revised / New 3. Relationship where appropriate with other policies/procedures or practice The policy should be read in conjunction with the following College policies / documents: - Dignity and Respect at Work Code of Conduct Flexible Working 4. Does the Strategy, Proposal, Policy, Procedure or Practice impact on the College, learners, employees or others? If yes, the document is equality relevant. If not please record the reasons for this decision. Yes, the policy is equality relevant 5 i Who are the Key Stakeholders involved with this analysis: College Governors, Directors and CMT, HR, Staff Partnership Forum, Association of Colleges, ACAS, Equality Committee and Focus Group 5ii Identify source of stakeholder views: College Governors, Directors, E&D Focus Group, HR, Staff Partnership Forum 6. Summarise the key comments and evidence from stakeholders which reflects upon how the proposed document assists in meeting the three aims of the Public Sector Equality Duty:* The Policy is compliant with the latest legal guidance received from ACAS and the Association of Colleges.. The Policy advances the three aims of the Public Sector Duty. 9

10 What evidence has been collated to inform this analysis. available, detail should be provided for this decision. Characteristic Comments If there is no evidence Age Disability Gender Transgender Race or ethnicity Religion or belief Sexual orientation Pregnancy / maternity Marriage or Civil partnership (only in respect of eliminating unlawful discrimination) A disabled person may not be able to access the policy in its current format. IT will as appropriate identify what reasonable adjustments are available to ensure access to this policy other than electronically or in paper form. An employee whose first language is not English may have difficulty in understanding the Policy. However translation services could be provided as appropriate. Staff on maternity leave/paternity leave or adoption leave can access this policy via the intranet No major change needed: No Adjustment required: NO SMART actions required to address any Equality & Diversity issues raised through consultation: Proposed Date of Equality Analysis review: December 2015 When this form is completed, please send it with the relevant Strategy, Proposal, Policy, Procedure or Practice for validation by the Senior Management Team. Authorised by the Senior Management Team: Date: 26 November 2013 Copy to the Clerk to the Board (Policies only) Date: 26 November 2013 Copied received by the PA to the Clerk to the Board Date: 26 November