Author: Diana Eccles, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine
The first item of business for this week’s UEB was a paper proposing a competitive procurement process for a single external provider to deliver occupational health (OH) services for both staff and students across the University. The provision of OH services for staff and students via separately negotiated arrangements has led to a patchy and variable provision that is not delivering an optimal service to all our staff or students. A formal procurement process will allow clarity of service specification for requirements across the University and better monitoring to ensure the required service is delivered. It will also bring us in line with the approach other Universities are taking and ensuring the best wellbeing support for all members of the University.
UEB reviewed progress being made with the Cyber security strategic plan and also received the first annual report on progress that is being made in this area. UEB members have all completed cyber security mandatory training. The training module is currently being revised to make it as accessible and inclusive as possible for all colleagues. All staff and PGR students who have not yet undertaken the mandatory short modules covering emails and phishing and working securely off campus are strongly encouraged to visit the cyber security training SharePoint site and help protect the University.
The staff employment survey was next on the agenda. The third iteration of the survey provided by People Insight will include the same questions as last time and invite free text commentary. The survey is very quick to complete and was invaluable in planning faculty, school and even group level interventions in the previous round. The greater the level of participation across all staff groups, the more representative is the information informing our action plans. The survey is open 6 – 24 November and staff will receive regular reminders to encourage as high a proportion of participants as possible.
Finally Kevin Argent, Executive Director of Estates and Facilities, joined UEB to provide an overview of the Estates transformation programme. A comprehensive review of the entire estates programme has revealed a clearer picture of the long-term maintenance requirements around our buildings. Prioritisation of critical infrastructure is also necessary such as an immediate focus on a solution to replace the combined heat and power plant which will require an interim short/medium term solution and a medium/long term sustainable solution in a rapidly moving area of technology that also needs to address the University sustainability goals. Greater clarity was provided on governance for capital projects including responsibilities of monitoring and approval boards. These changes will ensure progressive momentum across the whole estates programme including long-term maintenance work and new capital projects. Faculty level discussions about estates requirements have started with FEPS and FELS and will continue with other faculties as part of an overall planning process.
UEB will meet next Tuesday for a full day of strategic discussions and planning.