Author: Ian Dunn, Chief Operating Officer
Today’s University Executive Board (UEB) meeting started off with an interim update on student recruitment, with final numbers expected within a few weeks.
This meeting had a significant Health and Safety update covering two new policies, an update on the policy review procedure, the standard review of incidents in September and a comprehensive update on mental health:
- The two new policies approved covered use of Human Tissues in Research, and Cryogenic safety. Both will be available to view in the near future on the Health, Safety and Risk SharePoint site.
- The policy review procedure entails a standard review of policies once every two years and interim updates if legislation changes. Each review encompasses assessing legislation, best practice, looking at the university risk in the policy area, consultation with representative trade unions, UEB approval, publication and feedback.
- There were 42 incidents reported in September 2019, of which 11 were in halls of residence, one reportable (to the Health and Safety Executive [HSE]) event linked to an allergic reaction and a mix of other minor incidents, predominantly trips and colliding with animate or inanimate objects.
- The primary discussion this month was on a review of mental health, training provision and actions taken. Having identified that there has, to date, been a range of training providers in the University and only a loose coordination, we have over the last year undertaken a pilot in Biological Sciences with an identified provider, securing 100 per cent positive feedback. Linking the focus of our activity back to the 2018 Staff Engagement Survey, we are now ready to rollout mental health training to a wider population, with an initial focus on staff supporting field courses. If you are interested in knowing more, please contact Kelly Aubrey-Harris, our lead in this area.
The annual assurance statements, covering the period from August 2018 to July 2019 were reviewed at length and will now continue on their journey to Audit Committee. A small number of areas of non-compliance were identified, most notably the completion rate of conflict of interest declarations for staff at Level 4 and above – it is necessary for colleagues who don’t have a conflict of interest to complete the online form by selecting ‘no conflict’ and completing the submission. Overall, the sentiment was that a lot of progress has been made over the prior three years, and the University is in a much better place in compliance with regulatory/University governance requirements, as well as knowing where we have further action to take.
UEB then considered an update to the joint action plan between the University and Students’ Union (SUSU), on combating harassment and sexual assault. This is a very significant joint initiative, and real progress is being made in communicating expected behaviours in conjunction with the Respect campaign, providing a reporting tool (anonymous and named), providing guidelines, defining and reviewing policies/procedures for responses to such incidents, providing online training materials and in-person training to student facing staff and incident responders/investigators. A nominated team of student ambassadors has been created to engage students in the ongoing conversation on sexual violence, and to provide peer-to-peer support. The action plan will now be reviewed by Council, with thanks to all involved.
An update of activities in Professional Services was the staff engagement topic for today, with submissions by each directorate and an overall summary reviewed by UEB. Enhanced communications, town hall meetings, visibility of senior staff and celebrating successes has all been recognised and acted upon. There needs to be a continued focus on equity of treatment, managing difficult conversations, addressing bullying interactions, understanding what is in the control of local groups to deliver and what needs to be addressed at University level.
Professional Services was the final group to report of their staff engagement feedback plans and UEB requested that, going forward, the People work stream of the 10-Year Plan lead on the ongoing work in this area with full support and commitment from UEB. As part of this, UEB has commissioned a piece of work to consider how to move forward with assessing staff engagement. Recognising that all of us (UEB members, line management and staff) have a role to play in ensuring our University is a positive and rewarding place to work, UEB asked for regular updates going forward on the progress being made.