EDI Action Plan colour guide

1. Leadership & Management

2. Staff, including Governors

3. Students

4. Communications

5. External Partnerships

6. Training/CPD

7. Accessibility & Support

8. Supply Chain/Procurement

Appendices Guidance:

Appendix 1 UCG EDI Achievements 2021-2022

Appendix 2 UCG EDI Action Plan & Objectives 2022-2023

Appendix 3 National Centre for Diversity, Investors in Diversity Destinations

Appendix 4 EDI Monitoring Schedule

Appendix 5. EDI Structure

Strategic Theme Guide

Strategic Theme 1 - Leadership and Management

Strategic Theme 2 - Staff, including Governors

Strategic Theme 3 - Students

Strategic Theme 4 - Communications

Strategic Theme 5 - External Partnerships

Strategic Theme 6 - Training/CPD

Strategic Theme 7 - Accessibility & Support

Strategic Theme 8 - Supply Chain/Procurement

UCG is proud to share this document that provides an overview of the key achievements of the EDI Action Plan 2021-2022 and a preview of the EDI Strategic objectives contained in the EDI Action Plan for the academic year, 2022-23.

Our first set of EDI objectives were introduced in September 2021. These objectives were designed to advance the stated aim expressed in the 20202024 Strategic Plan of “Embracing Diversity & Inclusion” with support of our mission to deliver outstanding world class education and skills.

Our second set of EDI strategic objectives have been built upon the successes of the objectives of the past academic year and retains the same format. The EDI Action Plan for this year continues to help UCG work towards the key outcome of being an exemplar organisation in our approach to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) for students and staff.

At UCG we want to celebrate and build upon the positive impacts from the diverse set of students and staff, who form the foundation of the organisation. The introduction of an initial EDI Action Plan and the revisions to create the current plan support the commitment to our continued duty to develop a fully inclusive environment that enhances the experience of all students and staff and to encourage other organisations and stakeholders to improve their approach to critical EDI issues.

OUR EDI ACHIEVEMENTS 2021-22

The actions for 2021-22 were compiled and updated from prior drafts of the EDI Action Plan, staff and student feedback, inputs from the various Leads, and policy updates.

Using UCG’s 8 strategic themes (Appendix 1) provides a sample of some of our EDI achievements during the past academic year.

EDI ACTION PLAN 2022-23

The Action Plan (Appendix 2), for the current year is informed by a few outstanding objectives from the past academic year, relevant points raised by the feedback from our successful National Centre for Diversity (NCD) Investors in Diversity (IiD) Assessment (March 2022) and key ideas from the EDI Staff Focus Groups discussions, May 2022.

The format of the plan is designed against UCG’s Strategic themes paired with one or more “destination” (Appendix 3) that underpin the respected and highly valued Investors in Diversity charter mark which UCG successfully achieved in May 2022.

An established monitoring schedule exist (Appendix 4) which provides quality assurance for the Action Plan and other key elements of UCG’s EDI work.

Within the EDI Structure, (Appendix 5) the Action Plan will remain subject to the continuous review and scrutiny of the Strategic EDI Group, and the newly formed Staff EDI Forum on which sits the new role of EDI Champions.

Strategic Theme 1: Leadership and Management:

Take steps to advance EDI as a core element of the culture of UCG and create a working environment where staff feel valued, safe, supported, and can be their authentic selves. (NCD Investors in Diversity Destinations 1 & 3).

Key Achievements (Examples):

• UCG has ensured EDI is an intrinsic part of Governance and is integrated into main and strategic policies through having EDI as a standing item on Governor, SLT and piloted as part of Team meeting agendas.

• Produced and published our 1st EDI Annual Report 2020-2021 highlighting the many areas in which UCG has embedded and excelled in maintaining Equality, Diversity and Inclusion as a core values of the culture UCG.

• Devised and introduced a monitoring process for the review of Equality Impact Assessments (EIA). These are document assessments intended to ensure those who identify with a protected characteristic are not treated less favourably or unfairly by UCG policies and procedures. This is a requirement of all public bodies following the Equality Act 2010.

• The EDI Action Plan 2021-22 was shared with and approved by the Governors while in year updates were presented to the Governors by the Director of People and Communications.

• Created a Behaviour framework for all staff underpinned by the principles of the NCD Investors in Diversity Kitemark.

Strategic Theme 2: Staff, including Governors:

Improve the employee life cycle with reference to the recruitment and promotional opportunities for those groups who are underrepresented. Improve staff confidence to disclose their protected characteristics. (NCD Investors in Diversity Destinations 2, 6, 7 & 8).

Key Achievements (Examples):

• Following feedback through the EDI Staff Forum, a recruitment and selection focus group was set up to support recruitment initiatives to help ensure a fair and transparent recruitment practice.

• 34% of staff at the SMT level being from an ethnically diverse background which exceeds the target of 30%; while the target of 50% diverse representation for Governors has been met.

• The Mentoring programme for ethnically diverse staff was extended. This successful scheme has had a very positive impact on the development and progression of the number of ethnically diverse managers at UCG.

• The Employee Self Service System (ESS) was upgraded to make it easier for employees to self-declare and as part of the HR Casework, Business Partners are taking the opportunity to check the personal details of staff and where appropriate to encourage staff to update their details.

• SLT approved the introduction of Pronouns which were explained and promoted via various articles, blogs and Intranet material. Guidance was also issued on how staff can add their preferred Gender Pronoun to their email signature, while in support of this Strategic Action Plan objective, changes have been made to IT systems to enable all staff to include their preferred pronouns on their profile on the (ESS) system.

Strategic Theme: 3. Students:

Embed EDI into the student experience and use information systems to monitor, analyse, and raise the participation, progress, and achievement rates for student groups. (NCD Investors in Diversity Destinations 1 & 2).

Key Achievements (Examples):

• EDI achievement data group was set up to explore under achievement amongst particular groups of students, providing crucial data informing the development of an action plan to improve academic performance for underachieving groups.

• A new data base has been developed which is now integrated into the Power BI dashboard. This can assist with the monitoring of student achievement by diversity.

• Enrichment mentoring was introduced for at risk learners who support and steer students with a sensible approach.

• In areas where there are clear indicators of achievement gaps between different groups of students, Career Clusters have individual action plans to address these, which include reviewing classroom materials.

• EDI is threaded through the new staff induction programme.

• Support Logs have been streamlined and a new process of completing these has allowed managers to monitor LSA support more efficiently and effectively which has resulted in the quicker identification of low achieving learning and the implementation of appropriate interventions.

Strategic Theme: 4. Communications:

Actively promote and raise awareness of EDI building on the feedback from staff, learners, employers and partners of UCG (NCD Investors in Diversity Destinations 1, 2, 9 & 10).

Key Achievements (Examples):

• EDI Section on Sharepoint Site was launched on November 21. This contains a wealth of EDI support information available to staff including an EDI Calendar and other EDI related news and information.

• Produced four EDI Newsletters with articles on a range of EDI topics, CEO EDI blogs, suggestions of things to read, watch and listen to and updates on progress with the EDI Action plan. These newsletters have been developed as a direct result of staff focus group feedback and provide all staff with a greater awareness of the work being done on EDI at UCG.

• Conducted EDI Staff Focus Groups in the Autumn of 2021 and Summer 2022. Feedback from these focus groups was incorporated into specific actions on the EDI Action Plan 2021-2 and will be used to inform the 2022-2023, EDI Action Plan.

• Through the use of posters, Instagram, the Intranet, websites, and the EDI Annual Calendar are all used to highlight a wide range of internal and external events. This has included for example raising awareness of Black History Month, Ramadan, Hanukkah, LGBTQ+ Month, Anti Bullying week, Diwali, Men’s Health Week.

• In 2021/22 a new EDI role was created within the Student Union. This helped to strengthen the Student Council forum to explore and get feedback and help the student “voice” to be heard in regard to EDI concerns & initiatives.

Strategic Theme 5: External Partnerships:

Ensure that external opportunities promote EDI and that activities delivered by UCG incorporate EDI best practice. (NCD Investors in Diversity Destination 9).

Key Achievements (Examples):

• After a process of analysis and development of policy and procedures, the collection of evidence, assessor interviews and engagement across UCG, the Group achieved the Investors In Diversity Award.

• Continued to engage with Educate and Celebrate to make sure that UCG is a place that is welcoming to and supportive of LGBTQ+ staff and learners. Educate and Celebrate supported UCG in reviewing some policies and were commissioned to deliver LGBTQ+ awareness training to staff which counted towards staff CPD.

• Achieved the Educate & Celebrate certificate for Training.