· Web view2017-11-23 · At the heart of our community is the student body. RNC students may have visual impairment in common but the nature of conditions, additional disabilities,

Royal National College for the Blind

Our Vision – A world where every person with a visual impairment has true equality

Single Equality Scheme

2016 – 2018

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Foreword by the Principal

Welcome to our third Single Equality Scheme.

Our vision is ‘a world where every person with a visual impairment has true equality’. RNC is committed to this vision. There is a real passion amongst students and staff to ensure that Equality, Diversity and Inclusion remain as having paramount importance in all that we do.

In January 2016 RNC was listed as 6th in the National Centre for Diversity Top 100 index. With over 600 organisations analysed we are very proud of this achievement. We know that we cannot stand still, there continues to be much to do to overcome barriers for people with characteristics that are protected in law.

At the heart of our community is the student body. RNC students may have visual impairment in common but the nature of conditions, additional disabilities, wide range of social experience, gender, orientation, cultural and religious identity makes the student body richly diverse. We are proud of our workforce who are highly specialist in meeting the needs of our students and we take pride in the way our commercial and enterprise activities serve the needs of our local community.

We are committed to ensuring that our College’s services and employment opportunities are available to everyone. We are also committed to promoting equality. We will ensure that the philosophy of equality runs through all aspects of our provision and employment, and forms part of the operation of the College. With at least two thirds of working age people with a visual impairment currently unemployed, RNC continues to be secure in its mission to rigorously address the statistic.

This scheme has been developed by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion steering group which includes student representatives and staff from all college areas. This document sets out our commitment to equality and our determination to ensure that our policies and practices meet the needs of all of our students and staff, as well as those who use our services.

Everyone within the College has a responsibility to behave in a way that promotes equality, values diversity and respects human rights. Equality and Diversity must be integral to all structures and functions of the organisation, and leadership and commitment at all levels of the College are key to its success.

We strive to provide a fair, safe and respectful environment, where everyone accepts the differences between individuals and values the benefits that diversity brings and how it enriches the College.

We will comply with equality legislation, in letter and in spirit.

I am proud of all that our staff and students have achieved in ensuring and promoting equality and diversity, and I am confident in our future developments. We welcome you on this exciting journey with us to a more equal, diverse and inclusive community.

Mark Fisher

Principal

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Introduction

The Royal National College for the Blind

The Royal National College for the Blind (RNC) has been operating for over140 years and has been based in Hereford since 1978. RNC is a specialist residential college of further education and training for people who are blind or partially sighted. It is an independent charitable institution and a company limited by guarantee. The College is a pioneering organisation at the forefront of specialist education and training provision. RNC prepares its students for independent living, transition to employment and progression to Higher Education.

There are currently 78 students aged 16-25 sponsored individually by local authorities and funded either through the Education Funding Agency (EFA) or Welsh Government (WG).

In addition, between 10-30 adult students will spend approximately three months at RNC during the academic year funded by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The student population is diverse and is drawn from over 55 local authorities in England and Wales, as well as some from Scotland, an overseas student who is self-funded. 45% of the 16-25 year old students have disabilities in addition to being blind or partially sighted and this proportion is increasing each year.

In 2014 RNC achieved the Investors in Diversity (IiD) award (Stage 2). This required the college to undergo independent diagnostic assessments, additional staff training and full IiD assessment of our commitment to Equality and Diversity and implementation of inclusive practises across the organisation. As a result of this and in additional to the stage 2 award, RNC was also recognised in the 2016 National Centre for Diversity top 100 index and achieved 6th place.

In recent years the College has relocated of most learning activities, to make the best use of modern, accessible buildings. The Learning Hub is a vibrant study centre with the addition of ‘The Bridge Building’ which is the home for Arts & Media and the modern teaching kitchens.

We have developed a successful partnership with the Herefordshire Art College, which provides important rental income for previously disused areas of our campus; this enables us to sustain financial viability in challenging economic times. This partnership has also provided positive opportunities for student to develop links with peers in main stream education.

In support of our mission to achieve education, employment and empowerment for all people with a visual impairment, we are acting as consultants on the development of a specialist college with the Prince Mohammad University. This college will provide training in independent living and mobility skills alongside degree-level studies in a wide range of vocational subjects to students with a visual impairment in the Middle East. The entire curriculum will be accessible to both male and female students and staff will work with graduates to support them in finding permanent employment.

Environmental and physical resources continue to be closely monitored and evaluated within each area of the college to ensure support and facilities provided meet students’ needs and are fit for purpose. In our most recent Ofsted inspection (October 2013) it was reported that accommodation and resources for learning are very good. The significant

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programme of modernisation and streamlining has placed the College in a position to continue to develop as a right-sized organisation with forward financial viability.

With at least two thirds of working age people with a visual impairment currently unemployed, RNC continues to be secure in its mission to rigorously address the statistic. Mainstream education does not offer the independent living skills and training and work experience that are essential to ensuring visually impaired people have a secure future. The College most recent inspection by Ofsted (October 2013) reported ‘the College has maintained its outstanding specialist support for students with visual impairments’.

RNC offers a broad range of individual learning programmes, combining academic, vocational and independence skills. The College has redesigned its curriculum offer in response to the recent introduction of study programmes and all students have work experience as part of their programmes. The high priority placed on residential support was recognised with a grade of ‘outstanding’ in June 2011 for under 18 residential care (Ofsted).

The College has a talented and dedicated staff of 160 permanent staff and operates under the aegis of committed and supportive Board of Governors, who are also trustees, drawn both locally and from other parts of the UK and many walks of life. The Board includes two members of staff, an ex-RNC student and representation from the current student body.

The college fulfils all responsibilities within the Prevent Strategy and has developed a separate Prevent action plan and sub committee to oversee implementation of the Strategy. In addition there are effective processes in place to embed British Values into each student’s learning experience; this is included within the Single Equality Scheme action plan

RNC has active and effective partnerships with local Further Education Colleges, partner specialist colleges as well as with Birmingham University, Worcester University and Heart of Worcester. The College is a member of the Association of Colleges (AoC), the National Association of Specialist Colleges (NATSPEC) and other sector related organisations. The College works actively with British Blind Sport (BBS), the Football Association (FA), Sport England, Guide Dogs for the Blind, Action and the National Blind Children’s Society (NBCS). RNC has also developed a partnership with 3SC to support the national delivery of employment focused adult training.

RNC’s core work is supported by a range of commercial activities which are in line with our mission and values. These provide an additional funding stream to help to meet the shortfall between the funding received for students and the full cost of provision. Our activities include:

thePoint4, a fully accessible public leisure and sports facility

Gardner Hall, a conferencing and events centre with bedrooms

Hereford Assessment Centre , offering both diagnostic tests assessments and Disables Students’ Allowance Assessments

Consultancy on planning for accessible education and built environments

thePoint4 and Gardner Hall both provide work based learning opportunities for RNC students. Their facilities are used to deliver core curriculum activities and offer students a

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wide range of opportunities to engage with the wider community through shared use and events.

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About this Single Equality Scheme

The principles underlying our Single Equality Scheme and action plan are to:

Ensure that equality issues are embedded at the mainstream of policy and day to day practice;

Recognise and address the issues, particularly in relation to race, disability, gender, and people that have had, or are undergoing gender reassignment;

Meet the current legal duties concerning race, disability, gender and gender reassignment;

Provide a framework for a co-ordinated approach to meeting our legal requirements on age, belief and sexual orientation legislation;

Integrate our College values into the Scheme;

Ensure RNC policies are not discriminatory;

Challenge discrimination against people who work for us or who use our services;

Ensure equal access to services and, through effective review, deliver better, more appropriate services for our students, staff and external stakeholders.

The Single Equality Scheme will be monitored and managed by the Equality and Diversity Steering Group and the Equality and Diversity Promotions Group, which report in to the Senior Management Team and the Board of Governors.

The College is committed to upholding the values that underpin current equality and diversity legislation and to reviewing regularly its policies and processes as legislation is updated.

The College’s Single Equality Scheme is written in recognition that equality and diversity needs to be an integral part of our work. The scheme sets out a framework for embedding equality and diversity practice across the work of the College. We aim to raise awareness amongst our students, staff and those working with the College of our commitment to ensure that equality and diversity is recognised as part of our everyday ethos and approach.

RNC is committed to the promotion of Equal Opportunities. This scheme covers all aspects of equality and diversity, to promote equality and prevent unlawful direct or indirect discrimination, harassment or victimisation arising on grounds of:

Age

Disability

Gender

Race

Religion and Belief

Sexual Orientation

Marital or civil partnership status

Gender Reassignment

Pregnancy and Maternity6

We believe we can achieve our aims through a diverse and respected student and staff body who are treated fairly and who do not discriminate against others.

This is an evolving document and we would welcome your comments and feedback to support us in promoting and achieving equality and diversity. If you do have any comments or requests on the scheme please contact the Director of Student Support Services.

Leadership and Management of Equality and Diversity

Every student and staff member shares responsibility with us for the implementation of this Single Equality Scheme, and for promoting diversity and eradicating inequality.

The Board of Governors and the Principal have ultimate responsibility for ensuring the implementation of the College’s Equality and Diversity policies and will receive a regular update.

Strategic responsibility for the scheme is shared by the Senior Management Team. The RNC Steering Group oversees the leadership and management of the College’s equality scheme, and implementation of the equality and diversity action plan. The Steering Group includes staff from across the College who take the lead on driving through key priorities, supported by students and staff in their work. This Group provides a focused forum to support the implementation of the College’s Single Equality Scheme, raises staff and student awareness of the protected characteristics, and through promotion of the scheme gains commitment from the whole College community.

The College believes that each individual, whether staff or student, should take responsibility for, and ownership of the equality and diversity agenda; all are expected, encouraged to contribute to policy development and implementation, to promote good practice and to bring about change.

Leadership and commitment at all levels of the organisation are central to the success of the scheme to ensure we eliminate discrimination and seek to promote equality and diversity wherever we can. We look to everyone – staff and students – to act as a role model, to develop in themselves and in their work continued commitment to equality and diversity, and to challenge the inappropriate behaviour and attitudes of others. We will provide them with the skills, opportunities and framework for them to do so.

The legislative context7

The core commitment of RNC is to provide fair, accessible services for all and equality of opportunity for staff and provide development opportunities wherever possible for the growth of understanding and awareness of diversity, underpinned by equality legislation within the Equality Act 2010.

Race

We will adhere to our general and specific equality duties, and will have due regard of the need to:

Eliminate unlawful racial discrimination;

Promote equality of opportunity;

Foster good relations between people of different race.

Disability


Promote equality of opportunity between people with disabilities and others;

Eliminate discrimination that is unlawful under the Act;

Eliminate harassment of people with disabilities that is related to their disability;

Promote positive attitudes towards people with disabilities;

Encourage participation by people with disabilities in public life;

Take steps to take account of individual disabilities, even where that involves treating people with disabilities more favourably than others.

Gender


Eliminate discrimination and harassment that is unlawful under the Act;

Promote equality of opportunity between men and women.

Age

We will adhere to our duty to eliminate discrimination on the grounds of age in all aspects of employment throughout the journey of an employee from recruitment stage through to end of employment. We extend this duty to our students.

Sexual Orientation

We will adhere to this duty to eliminate discrimination on the grounds of an individual’s known or perceived sexual orientation for all students, staff and all others who may access our services.

Religion or Beliefs

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We will adhere to this duty to eliminate discrimination on the grounds of religion, philosophical or similar belief. Religion or belief cover Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism, Buddhism, Atheism, but may also cover beliefs such as Humanism or a philosophical belief.

We will comply with these legislative duties, and all other legal, moral and ethical guidelines. We will take seriously any breach of these duties and will robustly respond to such breaches, recording the issue and our responses to inform future action.

Gender Reassignment

We will adhere to this duty to eliminate discrimination against people on the grounds of any process of gender re-assignment, begun or complete. We will be proactive in promoting equality between trans people and non-trans people of any gender.

Pregnancy and Maternity

We will adhere to this duty to eliminate discrimination against staff due to pregnancy and maternity. To claim pregnancy and maternity discrimination a female must show that she has been treated unfairly because of her pregnancy and maternity and does not have to compare her treatment to the treatment of someone who was not pregnant or a new mother.

Equality and Diversity Monitoring

Equality monitoring enables us to gather information on students, employment and people who use our services and how communities view them, which is essential when planning and reviewing services.

On the basis of information gathered, we can begin to plan steps necessary to improve provision, delivery and levels of satisfaction.

For diversity monitoring to be effective, we will go beyond data collection to ensure we analyse this data to assess accessibility across all groups and then commit to act upon any findings.

We monitor equality to:

Ensure optimum service delivery. Unless we know who our customers are, who is and who is not using our services and what people think of them, we do not know if everyone is using our services equally. We will not be able to identify missed opportunities.

Aid service planning. Monitoring is vital for planning, targeting and measuring development in service provision. It can show gaps in services and can indicate new opportunities in terms of needs and markets. Monitoring also enables informed decisions to be made about priorities and resource allocation.

Improve service quality. Challenging inequality will improve the overall quality of our services. It ensures we are delivering services in the most appropriate way to meet the needs of all our communities.

Improve confidence and trust. By monitoring our service delivery and employment and being able to demonstrate that we are acting on this information, students, staff and stakeholders will have increased confidence that RNC is a fair and equal service provider and employer.

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Value cultural and ethnic diversity. RNC has a clear commitment to promoting equality, diversity and cohesion in all its work. By establishing clear and transparent mechanisms that help shape service delivery on the basis of need and involvement, our College is reinforcing and acting upon this commitment.

Meet legislative requirements to take account of equality issues when planning and delivering services

Equality and Diversity Training

We provide a range of equality and diversity training. All members of the Equality and Diversity Steering Group have undertaken specific training, as have our Board of Governors. All senior managers who act as chairs of recruitment panels have received recruitment and selection training.

All staff receive awareness-raising of equality and diversity during their induction, and it is featured in our Staff Handbook. All staff will receive a regular rolling programme of equality and diversity training, and all managers will receive training on managing diversity. Bullying and harassment training will also be delivered on a rolling programme.

We will continue to raise awareness of equality issues through training plans for equality and through individual development.

RNC Equality and Diversity training requirements

All Staff and Volunteers - Induction briefing – RNC Values, Single Equality Scheme

Baseline for all Staff:

Induction briefing – RNC Values, Single Equality Scheme

Equality and Diversity Awareness Session

Within six months of employment, and to be refreshed at least once every three years.

To cover:

Legislative framework

RNC Single Equality Scheme

RNC Culture

Monitoring and reporting processes

Teaching Staff

Teacher In Charge – embedding E&D in the curriculum – once every two years.

Performance reviews to include evaluation of practice with regard to equality and diversity.

Student Support Staff

Residential Managers – Conference or targeted course - once every two years.

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Residential/Pastoral Support Officers – all qualified to NVQ Level 3 in Health and Social Care (or equivalent).

Human Resources (HR) staff

HR E&D training level 4 – one team member.

E&D Group

Lead - Level 6 Leading Equality and Diversity or equivalent

Group Members -

Minimum of one visit to another provider every two years.

Area of specialist training (promotion, curriculum, achievement analysis, staffing requirements, environment) – once every two years.

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Procurement and Partnerships

We acknowledge that our ‘general’ duty to promote all protected characteristics extends into those situations where any of our functions or services are contracted, or sub-contracted, to other companies, organisations, groups or individuals, as well as direct works such as building works and repairs.

We will impact assess our procurement, tendering and contract management processes as an early measure to ensure that meeting the equality duty is built into the procurement process. This will ensure that services are provided in ways which promote equality of opportunity, eliminate discrimination and harassment, and promote positive attitudes towards people with a disability. We will monitor any outsourced service providers to ensure they are fully aware of this Scheme and comply with our organisational requirements when acting on our behalf.

To ensure any contractors conduct their duties in a manner that assists us to meet our obligations under the equality duty, we will take the following steps:

To be accepted on our tender lists, and to be awarded a contract or to have one renewed, organisations will be required to provide information about any findings of disability discrimination or harassment relating to them, and will be required to adopt the Commission for Equality and Human Rights statutory Codes of Practice on Employment and Occupation, and on Rights of Access to Goods, Services, Facilities and Premises.

We will review the way in which we procure services to ensure that it does not have an adverse impact on organisations and firms owned or run by people with a disability, Black and Minority Ethnic groups and men and women.

We will support all of this by providing training to staff involved in procurement.

In addition to our role in procurement, we recognise that if we work in partnership with other organisations, our responsibility to promote equality in our work continues to apply.

We will ensure that all our partners support us in meeting the ‘General’ and, where relevant, the ‘Specific’ elements of the equality duty, as appropriate to the precise form of partnership. We will also ensure that our partners receive a copy of this Scheme and that equality is considered at an early stage in our entering into partnership agreements.

We will also review our current list of partners to ensure inclusion of organisations representing the interests of all diversity groups, including work placement providers.

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RNC EDI Survey results 2016

Total returns for Students: 47 Total returns for Staff: 98

Age

Age grouping No. (%) of RNC

students 2016

No. (%) of RNC

students 2015

No. (%) of RNC

students2011

No. (%) of RNC staff

2016


2015


2011

16-18 45.65 32.56 30.99 3.09 0.89 4.7119-25 45.65 51.16 42.25 3.09 3.57 5.8026-35 4.35 2.33 8.45 20.62 18.75 12.6836-45 0 4.65 9.86 24.74 19.64 19.9346-60 0 9.30 7.75 31.96 41.07 44.9360+ 2.17 0 0.70 13.40 12.50 11.96Prefer Not to Say/ Unknown 2.17 0 - 3.09 3.57 -

Do staff/students feel fairly treated? Students StaffYes 91.30 100No 8.70 0

Overview: Last year the College reported a 10% increase in the percentage of students under the age of 25 years; this has increased by a further 8% in 2016 with the proportion of the students less than 25 years at 91%. As the funding sources for the student body suggest that adult students on Specialist Employability Support (SES) programme accounted for 25% of the student population at the time of the survey it is possible that a low engagement in the survey by adult students or their preference not to reveal their age has influenced this trend.

In contrast to the student population, the staff population are predominantly over the age of 46 years, this has reduced by 10% on last year. It is apparent that there is a considerable difference between the staff and student population with only 6% of staff under the age of 25 years; this is a 4% reduction on 2011.

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Race – definition of race includes colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin

Ethnic grouping No. (%) of RNC

students 2016

No. (%) of RNC

students 2015

No. (%) of RNC

students2011


2016


2015


2011

White British 82.22 83.33 81.69 95.92 95.54 82.61White Irish 0 0 0 0 0.89 0White European 4.44 2.38 2.11 1.02 0.89 2.54White Other 2.22 2.38 0 0Asian or Asian British Bangladeshi

0 0 1.41 0 0 0

Asian or Asian British Pakistani

0 2.38 0.70 0 0 0

Asian or Asian British Chinese

0 - - 1.02 - -

Asian Other 2.22 2.38 1.41 0 0 0.72Black British or Caribbean 4.44 0 0 0 0 0.36Black British or African 0 0 4.23 0 0 0.72Black British Other 0 0 2.11 0 0 0Mixed Heritage White Asian 0 0 0 0 0 0.72Mixed Heritage White Black Caribbean

0 0 0.70 0 0 0

Mixed Heritage White Black African

0 0 0 0 0 0

Mixed Heritage Other 2.22 0 0.70 0 0 0Other 0 7.14 1.41 1.02 0.89 0.36Prefer Not to Say / Unknown 2.22 0 3.52 1.02 1.79 11.96

Do staff/students feel fairly treated? Students StaffYes 97.73 98.94No 2.27 1.06

Is English your first language Students StaffYes 93.48 96.88No 6.52 3.13

Other first languages spoken:

Students: Arabic Staff: Polish, Chinese

Overview: As a national organisation RNC students originate from many parts of the UK as well as Overseas. Whilst there continues to be a difference in the staff and student populations, these trends are reflective of local and national data. Whilst the staff population is more reflective of the local picture which reported in the 2011 Census that 98% of the Herefordshire population were Non-BAME compared to 97% of the RNC population, a figure which has remained consistent over the last two years; the student population is more reflective of the national picture with 86% of the population reported as Non-BAME whilst the college population stands at 89%.

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Herefordshire Population %

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White 180,169 98.20%Mixed/multiple ethnic groups 1,270 0.69%Asian/Asian British 1,439 0.78%Black/African/Caribbean/Black British 331 0.18%Other ethnic group 268 0.15%

183,477England and Wales Population %White 48,209,395 85.97%Mixed/multiple ethnic groups 1,224,400 2.18%Asian/Asian British 4,213,531 7.51%Black/African/Caribbean/Black British 1,864,890 3.33%Other ethnic group 563,696 1.01%

56,075,912

Disability

Disability No. (%) of RNC students 2016

No. (%) of RNC students 2015


2016


2015Hearing Impairment 8.89 6.98 0.98 1.79Physical Impairment 11.11 6.98 0.98 0.89Visual Impairment 100 97.67 7.84 6.25Long Term/Chronic Illness 8.89 4.65 1.96 2.68Mental Ill Health 11.11 4.65 0.98 0.89Learning Difficulty/Disability 11.11 6.98 0 0None - - 86.28 87.50Other 0 11.63 0.98 0Prefer not to say/Unknown - - ‘- -


Overview: The 2015 and 2016 Census enabled students to select multiple options in their returns; this is reflected in the above figures. The range and number of students with multiple disabilities has increased in 2016 in all areas. In 2016 students were again asked whether they had a disability which continues a topic of much debate amongst the students who whilst in the legal context may have a disability, did not feel that they were restricted as a result of this as such whilst 97.78% of students considered they did have a disability 2.22% did not or preferred not to say, despite this all students answered the above question.

Religion and Belief

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Religion can be explained as a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe. Whilst there are a vast array of different religions, students and staff were asked to identify whether they belonged to one of the most recognised, as listed below:

Religion No. (%) of RNC students

2016

No. (%) of RNC students

2015

No. (%) of RNC staff2015

No. (%) of RNC staff2015

Atheism 36.36 28.57 20.41 20.37Buddhist 0 2.38 1.02 0Christian 36.36 33.34 52.04 50.93Hindu 4.55 4.76 0 0Islam 6.82 2.38 0 0Jainism 0 0 0 0Sikhism 0 2.38 0 0Other 6.82 19.05 9.18 5.56None - - - -Prefer not to say / Unknown 9.09 7.14 17.35 23.15


Overview: Christianity and Atheism, a disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God(s) have continued to be the most prominent religions identified by both students and staff accounting for on average 73% of the college population, a 5% increase on 2015. The most prominent religion at RNC continues to be Christianity, a trend comparable with the Office of National Statistics (ONS). ONS state Muslim as the next biggest religious group, this trend was not reflected at RNC during 2015 based on the information received however it prominence is raised in 2016.

There has also been a growing number of staff and students who state ‘Other’ as their religion, listing Agnostic, a person who believes it is impossible to know whether God(s) exist or not. Whilst much literature states Agnostic is not a true religion, the numbers both within the college and the wider community suggest it prominence is increasing; the Office of National Statistics reporting that a quarter of the population have no religion based on the 2011 census.

Sexual Orientation

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Sexual orientation No. (%) of RNC students

2016

No. (%) of RNC students

2015

No. (%) of RNC Staff2016

No. (%) of RNC Staff2015

Heterosexual 76.19 66.67 86.60 90Lesbian 2.38 4.76 4.12 1.82Gay 7.14 9.52 2.06 3.64Bi-Sexual 0 0 1.03 0Prefer not to say 9.52 19.05 6.19 4.55Other 4.76 0 -

Do staff/students feel fairly treated? Students StaffYes 100 100No 0 0

Overview: Whilst the national census still does not ask people to define their sexuality, a question on this was introduced into the ONS Integrated Household Survey (IHS) in 2009. The IHS is an interviewer-based, voluntary household survey; it was considered that this was likely to be more effective at eliciting sensitive information such as sexual identity than the census. Its key findings reported that in 2013, 1.6% of UK adults identified their sexual identity as gay, lesbian or bisexual. Twice as many males (1.6%) as females (0.8%) were likely to state their sexual identity as gay or lesbian.

Gender

GenderNo. (%) of RNC students 2016

No. (%) of RNC students 2015

No. (%) of RNC staff 2016

No. (%) of RNC staff 2015

Female 52.27 48.84 70.41 60.71Male 40.91 46.51 28.57 39.29Transgender 2.27 0 0 0Prefer not to say 4.55 4.65 1.02 0Other 0 - -


Overview: 2016 has seen a reduction by 10% in male staff and a 10% increase on female staff, although a higher level of female staff in education setting is not unusual. The small increase in female students and decrease in male students, does not provide evidence of a strong trend of change at this time.

Gender Reassignment – Gender reassignment (Transsexualism) is a personal process which involves a person expressing their gender in a way that differs from or is inconsistent with the physical sex they were born with.

The absence of national data makes it difficult to determine the level of discrimination, inequality or social exclusion faced by the transgender community. The Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) was amended in May 1999 to protect transsexual people against discrimination in employment and vocational training.

RNC EDI Action Plan 2016-2018

Purpose of action plan:

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To continue to provide a framework and timeline to embed and improve EDI practices across the organisation

Development of the plan:

The plan is a continuation of the previous action plan and has been developed in consultation with the RNC EDI steering group.

Recommendation from IiD report have been included within the plan The action plan will remain a live working document, and will be updated with relevant actions in

response to changes in national legislation, RNC inspection outcomes and student/staff experiences and feedback.

Monitoring and evaluating progress:

RNC EDI steering group will monitor and update action plan at each half termly meeting, actions have be time lined and assigned to group members.

As the action plan is a live working document a copy is available on request, please email [email protected]

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Documents

· Web view2017-11-23 · At the heart of our community is the student body. RNC students may have visual impairment in common but the nature of conditions, additional disabilities,