Appendix 2 

Equality Schemes Review 
2009

1.	Introduction 
The Disability, Gender and Race Equality Schemes published in 2006, 2007 and 2008 respectively met the legislative responsibilities placed on the University to prepare and publish equality schemes and actions plans.  The Schemes have enabled the University to plan and deliver the actions needed to promote equality of opportunity in relation to disability, gender and race. 

The University has made significant progress in recent years to drive forward the equality agenda.  Some key achievements include: 

•	Equality data monitoring and action planning is embedded into the University’s annual Operational Performance Reviews. This includes monitoring in relation to recruitment, current staff profile and promotion, identifying relevant follow up actions and timescales;
•	Key recommendations implemented from the Women and Race in Leadership Projects;
•	‘Two Ticks’ disability symbol awarded to the University. This is a guaranteed interview scheme for disabled job applicants who meet the essential job criteria;
•	Athena SWAN Bronze awarded to the University and Silver awarded to the Faculty of Life Sciences for commitment to the career advancement of women in Science, Engineering and Technology; 
•	Expansion of Equality and diversity training to all staff and piloted with students;
•	Launch of dedicated support service for disabled staff; 
•	North West and Yorkshire regional winner ‘Shaw Trust’ STAR award 2009 for supported work placements (Directorate of STARS)
•	Disability access audit completed by the Directorate of Estates; 
•	Positive Action developed in Professional Support Services to address under representation of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) staff in senior positions;
•	Equality Impact Assessment pilot project completed. Assessments encompassed staff and student recruitment and admissions processes, student interruptions, flexible working and procurement;

•	Activities targeted to promote equality in staff and student recruitment:
•	Participation in Jobs Fair for Disabled people and BME Jobs Fair;
•	Provided supported work placements for disabled people;
•	Ethnic Diversity Jobs Fair for students;
•	Targeted mentoring programme for disabled, BME and international students;
•	Extensive widening participation programme to encourage underrepresented groups to consider studying at the University of Manchester.
•	Engagement with local communities embracing many disadvantaged staff through the Manchester Beacon for Public Engagement

This review outlines the progress made again the original Scheme objectives. The annual progress reports produced in 2007 & 2008 provide more detail and are available to down load from the Equality and Diversity internet pages.  

•	www.campus.manchester.ac.uk/equalityanddiversity

In addition to the legal requirement for Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s) to report progress annually against their original equality Schemes and action plans, the DDA (2005) requires HEI’s to revise and publish a new Disability Equality Scheme no later than the 4th December 2009.  

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC, 2009) states the purpose of revising a DES as:

•	to ensure priorities are refocused to tackle the most relevant and significant issues to bring about disability equality
•	to base actions on current evidence and the views of disabled people
•	to reflect on what has been achieved and focus on where more work is required
•	to ensure the Scheme accurately reflects current business and gives attention to areas that have changed since the last Scheme.

In light of planned changes to equality legislation and the University’s inclusive approach towards equality of opportunity, a Single Equality Scheme has been developed. This Scheme revises and replaces the existing disability, gender and race equality schemes.  It builds on the excellent work already undertaken in relation to disability, gender and race equality and extends its scope to include age, nationality, religion or belief and sexual orientation.
 
This review is part of a number of activities that have taken place to gather evidence for the development of the Scheme. Evidence based around access to employment, education, goods, facilities and services, the buying or renting of land or property and procurement.

2.	Progress
To enable the University to reflect on what has been achieved and focus resources on where additional work is required, progress made against all of the actions originally identified as part of the Disability, Gender and Race Equality Schemes have been reviewed. 

The involvement and consultation activities undertaken as part of the development of the Single Equality Scheme have allowed the University to ensure the revised Scheme accurately reflects the current views and needs of the University community.  

Status 	Detail 
	
Completed 
	The action has been completed and no further work is required at this time. More information can be found in the appropriate annual progress review or through the Equality and Diversity Team.
 	
Underway 
	The action is underway and no further action will be required at this time.
 	
Integrated into SES 
	Initial timescales have not been met or the initial action has been completed and it has been identified further work is required.  Therefore the action has been carried over and integrated into the Single Equality Scheme.
	
Under review 
	The action has been temporarily under review and will be reviewed through the equality scheme review process.

2.1	The University
Action 	Status 	D	G	R	
To review the membership of the Board of Governors and other key University Committees	Under review 	*	*	*	
To ensure senior
management are well briefed
and aware of equality and
diversity strategy and wider
implication	Completed 		*		
To mainstream disability equality into the University’s strategic and planning agenda and establish an effective governance and management structure	Completed	*	*	*	
To develop operational unit action plans	Integrated into SES 
•	Priority 2.5, 2.6, 3.7 & 3.8 	*	*	*	
To include gender equality issues as a standing item on committees responsible for teaching, learning and assessment	Completed		*		

2.2	 Involvement and Consultation 
Action 	Status 	D	G	R	
To involve  people in the development of new policies, practices and procedures where appropriate	Integrated into SES 
•	Section 3 
•	Section 8 	*	*	*	
To continue to regularly consult with disabled staff and students to understand barriers, and to support the impact assessment process	Integrated into SES 
•	Section 3 
•	Section 8 	*			
To involve and consult with the Multi-Faith Group to develop a positive approach to the promotion of good campus relations.	Integrated into SES 
•	Section 3 
•	Priority 3.9 			*	

2.3	Data 
Action 	Status 	D	G	R	
To develop and implement an effective data monitoring and analysis process that supports the Disability, Gender and Race Equality Schemes 	Integrated into SES 
•	Section 3
•	Priority 2.3, 2.5, 3.1 & 3.5 	*	*	*	
To develop mechanisms to enable data monitoring at each stage of the recruitment lifecycle 	Integrated into SES 
•	Priority 2.3 	*	*	*	
To identify gender imbalances in staff populations and implement actions to redress the gender imbalances.	Integrated into SES 
•	Priority 3.1, 3.4, 3.7 & 3.8 		*		
To ensure that there is a preference for trans gender on the equal opportunities form	Completed 		*		
To develop mechanisms to enable detailed course programme analysis of entrants by gender	Integrated into SES 
•	Priority 2.2 		*		
To introduce gender equality monitoring as a theme in the annual monitoring of undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes	Completed		*		
To develop appropriate performance indicators to be used in subsequent planning activities	Under review	*			
To develop mechanisms to enable detailed programme analysis of postgraduate entrants by ethnicity.	Integrated into SES 
•	Priority 2.2 			*	
To make completion of ethnicity and nationality data mandatory at student registration.	Under review			*	
To develop mechanisms to enable monitoring of teaching, learning and assessment by ethnicity.	Integrated into SES 
•	Priority 3.6 			*	

2.4	Projects
Action 	Status 	D	G	R	
To implement the recommendations outlined in the Women in Leadership Project Report 2	Completed 		*		
To develop positive action initiatives to support the progression of BME non-academic staff into more senior roles.	Integrated into SES 
•	Priority 3.7 &3.8 			*	

2.5	Communication
Action 	Progress 	D	G	R	
To review the use of alternative formats in communication and implement procedures to enable the use of alternative formats	Completed 	*			
To review imagery used in divisional publicity materials	Completed	*			
To review service  publicity materials to provide information about additional support provision 	Completed	*			
To ensure guidance and training on the use of alternative formats is delivered to key stakeholders 
	Completed	*			
To develop mechanisms to enable monitoring of usage of the Alternative Format Service
	Under review 	*			
To review contributions made by disabled students used in publicity materials	Under review	*			
To implement a timetable to ensure that the staff and student intranets are accessible 	Completed	*			
To ensure that there are clear communication and feedback channels open to manual workers and staff members who work off campus	Integrated into SES 
•	Priority 3.9		*		

2.6	Students
Action 	Progress 	D	G	R	
To review the policy
provision of the delivery of
the curriculum to promote
broad access	Completed		*		
To review the delivery of all programmes to ensure that they take account of the needs of disabled students	Underway 	*			
To review the use of assistive technologies / providers and widely promote the use of assistive technologies	Underway	*			
To develop an appropriate provision for using alternative assessment methods in assessing students in coursework/class tests	Underway	*			

2.7	Student Support
Action 	Progress 	D	G	R	
To review the support
provision for trans students	Integrated into SES 
•	Priority 3.9 		*		
To review support provision for students who become parents during study	Completed 		*		
To review childcare provision for students	Completed		*		
To review provision of student support services to enable equal access to services and develop mechanisms to monitor and evaluate access to services	Underway		*		
To review the mentoring
provision for female
students	Completed		*		
To monitor the proportion of disabled students involved in widening participation activities against appropriate benchmarks	Completed	*			
To review the provision of additional support provided at widening participation activities	Completed	*			

Action 	Progress 	D	G	R	
To review and define the service line agreement between Access Summit and the Disability Support Office	Completed	*			
To review the role and responsibilities of Disability Coordinators	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 3.3 	*			
To review personal care support	Under review	*			
To review support provision for hearing impaired students	Under review	*			
To review support for international students	Under review	*			
To monitor and report to Senate, complaints relating to disability issues	Completed 	*			

2.8	Student Recruitment and Admissions
Action 	Progress 	D	G	R	
To review the course outlines to include additional course details such as field trips, placements etc. and to be available in accessible formats	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 2.1 	*			
To implement a procedure on using alternative assessment methods in the selection of prospective students 	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 2.4 	*			
To develop a procedure to facilitate earlier contact with postgraduate and ERASMUS students	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 2.1 	*			

2.9	Staff Recruitment
Action 	Progress 	D	G	R	
To review the additional support provision for disabled job applicants	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 3.3 	*			

2.10	Staff Support
Action 	Progress 	D	G	R	
To develop an initiative to promote positive role models, particularly women in senior posts and men who work flexibly to the staff community
	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 3.4 		*		
To widely promote flexible working policies
	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 3.4		*		
To carry out an equal pay audit and identify any gender pay gap on full time and part time employment	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 3.5 		*		
To review support provision of trans staff	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 3.9 		*		
To review the childcare provision for staff	Underway		*		
To review support provided to women during and returning back to work after a period of maternity leave	Under review		*		
To develop monitoring mechanisms to evaluate Occupational Health service provision	Completed		*		
To provide access to Campus Solutions for academic and administrative members of staff	Completed	*			
To develop a Rehabilitation and Redeployment Policy	Completed	*			

2.11	University Buildings
Action 	Progress 	D	G	R	
To continue to implement  the accessibility plan to improve physical access across the University campus	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 4.1 	*			
To review the provision of deaf-alerter style system to enable staff and students who are hearing impaired to receive pager messages about fire alarm activations	Completed	*			
To review evacuation procedures and physical accessibility for all facilities and buildings across the University campus	Completed	*			
To review and amend the campus map to provide relevant information in an accessible format	Completed	*			
To review support provision for hearing and visually impaired staff and students attending the Counselling Service	Under review 	*			

2.12	Procurement

Action 	Progress 	D	G	R	
To introduce an Equality and Diversity Questionnaire for all purchasing activities and include it as a standard part of the contract award criteria	Completed 	*	*		
To develop an appropriate mechanism to monitor Equality and Diversity Questionnaires against contract award	Under review 	*			

2.13	Community 
Action 	Progress 	D	G	R	
To continue to involve people from the local community in the implementation of this action plan and in the identification of barriers to the University’s facilities and services in conjunction with other public bodies 	Completed 	*			
To develop strong relationships with local organisations that support disabled people	Completed	*			
To work collaboratively with
Manchester Universities in
consultation with the local
community	Completed	*	*	*	

2.14	Impact Assessments 
Action 	Progress 	D	G	R	
To develop mechanisms to  assess the impact of all new University policies	Integrated into SES
•	Section 8 	*	*	*	
To assess the impact of the Confidentiality and Disclosure Policy	Under review 	*			
To assess the impact of student recruitment and admissions policy	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 2.5 	*	*	*	
To assess and understand gender impact of potential alternative methods of selection e.g. TSA, LNAT.	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 2.4 		*		
To assess the impact of the Harassment, Discrimination and Bullying (HDB) Policy and Procedure	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 1.1 	*	*	*	
To assess the impact of the staff recruitment strategy and policy provision.  Ensuring that interview panels reflect the diversity of the University community; and that the provision of personal information on the application form supplied to recruiting managers.	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 2.5	*	*	*	

Action 	Progress 	D	G	R	
To assess the impact of the Promotions Policy and Procedure
•	developing and promoting promotions criteria to ensure that part time workers are not disadvantaged
•	To make provisions to enable academic promotions criteria to reflect non-research activities	Integrated into SES

•	Priority 3.7 & 3.8 		*	*	
To assess the impact of the Performance Development and Review process	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 3.7 		*	*	
To assess the impact of flexible working policies and provision 	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 3.4 		*		
To assess the impact of leave schemes	Under review 		*		
To assess the impact of internal staff communications strategy 	Under review		*		
To assess the impact of the provision of toilet facilities across the campus	Completed 		*		
To assess the impact of the funding provision for making adjustments in line with DDA2005	Completed	*			
To assess the impact of support across all student services for disabled students	Completed	*			
To assess the impact of corporate guidance on producing  publicity materials and publications 	Under review 	*			
To assess the impact of the imagery used in core publicity materials	Under review 	*	*		
To assess the impact of disability equality on the graduation event	Under review 	*			

Action 	Progress 	D	G	R	
To assess the impact of accessibility to all student services	Under review 	*			
To assess the impact of the
staff training strategy	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 3.9 		*	*	
To assess the impact of signage provision across the University campus	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 4.1 	*			
To assess the impact of current IT provisions for staff and students	Under review 	*			
To assess the impact of the Equality and Diversity Questionnaire (procurement) 	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 4.3 	*	*		
To assess the impact of the Assessment and Examinations Policy	Under review 	*			

2.15	Training
Action 	Progress 	D	G	R	
To promote gender equality in existing training provision for all staff within student admissions, recruitment & WP. 	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 2.2 		*		
To consult with men to identify barriers to accessing the Navigator self development programme	Under review 		*		
To develop mechanisms to monitor staff training provision by gender	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 1.3 		*		
To deliver gender equality awareness training to all staff 	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 1.3 		*		
To develop training provision on awareness around trans issues	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 1.3 		*		

Action 	Progress 	D	G	R	
To review the provision of mentoring relationships for all staff	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 3.3 	*	*	*	
To provide training to line management on leave schemes	Completed 	*	*	*	
To design and deliver an ongoing programme of disability awareness related training appropriate to staff roles and functions	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 1.3 	*			
To review provision of equality and diversity awareness training for students	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 1.3		*		
To implement an ongoing programme of harassment, discrimination and bullying awareness raising for students as part of the induction process 	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 1.3 	*	*	*	
To devise an ongoing programme of harassment, discrimination and bullying awareness training appropriate to staff roles and functions	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 1.3	*	*	*	
To design and deliver a revised Corporate Induction 
•	To promote services and provisions that promote gender equality such as flexible working arrangements as part of the induction process
	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 1.3	*	*		
To review the Training in Equality and Diversity Issues (TEDI) course provision	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 2.2 	*	*	*	
To deliver Performance Development Review training, including disability awareness, to all line management	Completed 	*			
To deliver sickness absence training, including disability awareness, to all line management	Completed 	*			
To ensure guidance and training is delivered in the provision of support for staff and students who are hearing impaired	Completed 	*			

Action 	Progress 	D	G	R	
To ensure staff have received appropriate training on the provision of additional support available for conference goers	Completed 	*			
To ensure guidance and training on the use of assistive technologies is delivered to key stakeholders	Underway	*			
To ensure staff involved in the administration or implementation of alternative assessments have received appropriate training and guidance	Completed 	*			
To ensure mandatory training is delivered for Disability Coordinators	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 3.3 	*			
To ensure rehabilitation and redeployment training is delivered to all line managers	Completed 	*			
To pilot cultural awareness training for staff and students, particularly looking at cross-cultural communication.  To further investigate and make recommendations for the support required for international staff and students.	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 1.2 			*	
To develop mechanisms to monitor staff training provision  by equality 	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 1.2	*	*	*	

2.16	Services
Action 	Progress 	D	G	R	
To review the practice and provisions of the John Rylands Library	Completed 	*			
To review the practice and provisions of the Directorate of Sport, Trading and Residential Services (STARS)	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 4.2 	*			
To review the practice and provisions of the University’s conference facilities	Integrated into SES
•	Priority 4.2 		*		
To review the practice and provisions of the University’s cultural assets	Under review 		*		

3.	The Single Equality Scheme
The Single Equality Scheme outlines how the University will respond to its public equality duties and builds on the achievements of the previous Disability (2006), Gender (2007) and Race (2008) Equality Schemes. 

The Scheme demonstrates how it will integrate equality of opportunity into all areas of its business and fulfil its commitments by identifying four key objectives that are directly linked to the University’s overarching strategic agenda.

The Scheme’s four objectives: 

1.	To promote dignity, respect and understanding within the University and wider community.
2.	To attract and select a diverse range of talented people to work and study at the University.
3.	To create an environment that encourages and supports all staff and students to actively engage with the University and realise their full potential.
4.	To ensure the campus buildings and infrastructure reflects the diverse needs of the University community.

A number of the actions highlighted in this review have been consulted on and developed further, incorporating them into the Single Equality Scheme Action Plan (appendix 1). 

This progress review is part of several activities that have taken place to develop the Single Equality Scheme.  

These activities include: 
•	A review of equality monitoring data (appendix 3);
•	A review of current and planned legislative requirements (appendix 4); 
•	A review of relevant external research within the field (appendix 5);
•	Equality impact assessments (appendix 6); 
•	And a series of involvement and consultation activities that have taken place with staff and students using a variety of mechanisms (appendix 7).