Dear All It has come to my attention that some Student Unions are taking a stance against the proposed HESA data collection on sexual orientation and religion and belief, in particular sexual orientation, as it is a particularly sensitive area for transgender students. Apparently HESA have been approached by a number of SUs to communicate their disagreement with this particular type of data collection. As well as introducing these two new fields to the student 2012/13 collection, HESA are also making other changes with regard to a differentiation between 'gender' and 'sex'. In light of this, we are reviewing the necessity to collect such data and have discovered that the two future fields in question have actually been deemed 'optional' by HESA for both staff and students. I am therefore writing to ask what approach other institutions are taking and if they have already started to collect the data, what sort of response you have received. Many thanks Sandra Mrs Sandra Beaufoy HR Adviser - Equality and Diversity Human Resources University House University of Warwick Coventry UK Tel: 00 44 (0)24 76 574479 Email: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>