Hi All,
I think that during the consultation period, someone (ECU?) should lobby for some sort of extension to existing schemes to avoid institutions producing new DES and GES a year or so before a Single scheme
Chris Bradshaw
Equality and Diversity Co-ordinator
Room A410
University of the West of Scotland
High Street
Paisley
PA1 2BE
0141 848 3580
>>> Caroline Old 07/01/08 1:25 pm >>>
We are implementing our SES prior to the deadline for the due date of the
next DES. I will be following the ECU guidelines and recommendations
regarding the bill. Anything that comes in that we haven't included I will
add as a supplement.
Caroline Old
Equalities Officer
Southampton Solent University
East Park Terrace
Southampton
SO14 0YN
Tel: 02380 319631
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Please note that my usual office hours are 08:15-17:15 Monday- Thursday.
Deborah Viney <[log in to unmask]>
Sent by: HE Administrators equal opportunities list
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01/07/2008 13:06
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Re: The Equality Bill - Impact on Higher Education CRM:0013425
The timeframe is that this will go into the Queen?s speech in November,
which means Parliament will consider the bill in the next session and IF
it is passed, it would be implemented some time after that. However if
the govt. decides to call an early general election, then it might get
lost altogether and never be considered during the life of this
parliament. And of course if Labour lose the next General Election before
the bill is passed, then the bill will die and never become law. My guess
is that the earliest it could be implemented, even if everything goes to
plan, is sometime in 2010. That means we would be due to produce our new
Disability Equality Schemes, and possibly Gender Schemes too, before the
new Act came in (if it comes in)
regards, Deb
Deb Viney
Diversity Advisor, SOAS
Email [log in to unmask]
Tel 0207 898 4957
From: HE Administrators equal opportunities list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Fehmeeda Riaz
Sent: 01 July 2008 11:17
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The Equality Bill - Impact on Higher Education CRM:0013425
Dear All,
I found this briefing from the Equality Challenge Unit very helpful indeed
so many thanks to the ECU for producing such a concise and helpful
document. I have a couple of questions that I hope colleagues will be
able to help me with. Firstly, do we know when this new legislation is
likely to come into effect.
Currently, we have comprehensive and dedicated Race, Gender and Disability
Equality Schemes which are underpinned by a Diversity and Dignity at Work
& Study Policy which covers all strands of equality and diversity and lays
out the procedures for dealing with bullying and harassment. We also have
an Equal Pay Policy and cary out Equal Pay Audits every two years. We
have done alot of work on religion and belief and promoting good relations
between people of different faiths and backgrounds and have a very
comprehensive religion and belief policy. I feel fairly confident that we
are well equipped to meet the challenges of the new Equality Bill does it
mean that most institutions will have to work towards a single Equality
Scheme?
Also, there has been alot of negative press about the Postive Action
aspects and how this would apply in practice.
Any thoughts would be most welcome!
Best wishes
Fehmeeda
Fehmeeda Riaz
University of Westminster
HR Manager - Equality & Diversity
HR Department, 5th Floor, Copland Building
115 New Cavendish Street
London, W1W 6UW
Tel: 020-7911-5776 r
From: Equality Challenge Unit [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 30 June 2008 16:42
To: Fehmeeda Riaz
Subject: The Equality Bill - Impact on Higher Education CRM:0013425
Equality Challenge Unit Briefing
The Equality Bill ? Impact on Higher Education
On the 26 June 2008 Harriet Harman, Minister for Women and Equality, made
a statement in the House of Commons setting out the main themes of the
Equality Bill which will be announced in the Queen?s speech in November
and is due for publication in Spring 2009. While the Commons statement may
not have contained much fine detail, it did make certain priorities clear.
An Equality Duty
The document confirms that a new ?Equality Duty? on public bodies will
replace the current race, disability and gender duties. The new
streamlined duty will cover not only those three areas, but also gender
reassignment, age, sexual orientation and religion and belief. The arGovernment will be discussing with relevant organisations how the new duty
will work in practice, especially in relation to religion and belief.
What this is likely to mean for higher education institutions is that they
will need to take proactive steps to eliminate any unlawful discrimination
against both staff and students on the new grounds, and probably also take
steps to promote good relations for those groups and also between the
groups. This would not require institutions to arbitrate between the
different interests of ? for example ? certain fundamentalist religious
groups and gay and lesbian staff and students. But it might provide a
clearer and more transparent framework in which consensus could be sought.
In many respects, the higher education sector is well-positioned for the
new duty. It is already unlawful for institutions to discriminate against
not just staff but also students, so the impact on the sector may be less
than for other sectors where the law has only to date extended to staff
issues. Further, many institutions are already actively engaged in
ensuring that their institutions attract and engage with students of all
ages and that students from different religious backgrounds are supported.
A duty to promote good relations between the groups is already something
that is integral to many institutions? approaches to promoting good campus
relations.
But where the duty is likely to have impact is in terms of requiring a
more systematic and evidence based approach to all the equality areas.
Engaging with issues such as the impact of religion or sexual orientation
on campus will no longer be optional or just a question of ?good
practice?, but will require a more strategic and systematic approach.
Working with a range of higher education institutions, Equality Challenge
Unit has already anticipated the extension of the public sector duties to
all the equality areas:
· The UUK/GuildHE/ECU publication Promoting Good Campus Relations,
2007 sets out advice and guidance, with many case studies from existing
practice within institutions, of the promotion of good relations across
all equality areas. This publication was extended in 2008 to focus
specifically on issues of religion and belief;
· The Unit has recently commissioned the University of Leeds to
carry out research into what the barriers are, if any, faced by gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgender staff and students in higher education
which will assist institutions in determining what the priorities might be
in terms of complying with the duty in relation to issues of sexual
orientation (anticipated publication date January 2009);
· Trans Staff and Students in Higher Education published in 2008
describes the steps that institutions might choose to take to support
members of staff or students who have decided to change their gender,
again illustrated with extensive case studies of inclusive practice from
the sector.
· General Guidance Note on Age and Student Issues, 2006, contains
advice and case studies of a range of good practice in relation to age
issues on campus.
Positive Action
The Bill will look to extend the scope of ?Positive Action? to allow
institutions to take under-representation into account when selecting
between two equally qualified candidates in the area of staff recruitment.
This provision will be optional, not mandatory. It is likely to prove one
of the most controversial elements of the new Bill. This power is already
in use elsewhere in Europe, and for example in Scandinavian universities
it is now common to see advertisements which state that ?priority will be
given to a person of an underrepresented sex (in this case women), when
applicants are otherwise equal.? The difficulty is that in practice it is
unusual for applicant to be ?equal? and it remains to be seen how and in
what ways higher education institutions might choose to use the new
powers.
It is disappointing that the Statement does not suggest that the positive
action provision should extend to students. This is an area where
institutions have expressed a need to have more freedom in treating
different groups of students differently to enable them to compensate for
past disadvantage, for example by offering student bursaries to
underrepresented Black and Minority Ethnic applicants. Equality Challenge
Unit has previously raised this issue with Government in their response to
the Government?s original consultation (available on the ECU website), and
will continue to make this point prior to the Bill being published.
Pay Audits
A great deal of joint work relating to equal pay has already been
conducted, with employers and unions working together across the sector to
achieve equal pay practices. Pay already forms an integral part of the
Framework Agreement process, and for many institutions data on the pay gap
is already in the public domain. Institutions will be expected to conduct
equal pay job evaluation audits and publish the percentage difference in
the average pay of men and women. It remains to be seen whether the
percentage difference that is required to be published will include all
pay, including market supplements, ex gratia payment and bonuses, and
merit pay.
Procurement
The Bill will also be placing a duty on some private companies in relation
to procurement, and will look to private companies working with
institutions to produce audits showing the extent of their gender pay gap,
as well as the proportions of their staff that come from ethnic minorities
or who are disabled. This information may then impact on the institutions?
engagement with the private provider, and feed into their approach to the
new equality duty.
Next steps
A more comprehensive paper on the content of the Bill, and the
Government?s response to the consultation, Discrimination Law Review; A
Framework for Fairness: Proposals for a Single Equality Bill for Great
Britain? will be published by the Government Equality Office shortly. This
will offer more clarity on details for implementation of the Bill and the
time allowed for institutions to review their practices.
Equality Challenge Unit will continue to work with higher education
institutions to clarify the implications of the Bill for the sector and
will be feeding into government consultations on developing the specific
duties underpinning the Bill.
The Unit has launched an Equality Bill homepage containing information on
developments of the Bill and their relevance to the Higher Education
Sector.
About the Equality Challenge Unit
Equality Challenge Unit supports the higher education sector in its
mission to realise the potential of all staff and students whatever their
race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion and belief, or age,
to the benefit of those individuals, higher educations institutions and
society
For further information and advice on equality and diversity in higher
education
T: +44 (0) 20 7438 1010
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www.ecu.ac.uk
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