Common use of Equalities and Inclusion Clause in Contracts

Equalities and Inclusion. In addition to a clear focus on economic recovery and the creation of economic growth, the College also cites the generation of social well-being and thriving communities as a central pillar of our 2025 strategy. This pledge recognises our role and responsibilities as an anchor institution in improving people’s life chances by ensuring access to high quality of education that is appropriate to their needs, enables them to reach their full potential (regardless of characteristic or background) and equips them with the vocational and essential skills necessary to succeed in the world of work. Our Outcome Agreement itself has been subject to Equalities Impact Assessment which is available on our website. The College monitors closely the participation (and mainstreaming) of learners from protected characteristic groups and publishes detailed statistics biennially. Our analysis of equalities data within our Equalities Mainstreaming Report shows that the broad distribution of protected characteristic groups within our student population matches the distribution found within the wider population of Dundee and Angus. The College is engaged in several projects and activities that support those with issues of equality that are compounded by socio-economic disadvantage. This includes a broad range of curriculum provision and support through our Access and Inclusion curriculum and engagement with a wide range of regional inclusiveness projects. The College is an active member and supporter of the Dundee Fairness Commission. The College is one of only a handful to receive Scottish Government funding to tackle issues of Child Poverty. This funding is supporting extensive engagement with young people and lone parents across our communities to begin their engagement with education and move through into mainstream provision and employment. Details of this work are available here Learner outcomes, progression, and post course success for learners from the 10% most deprived postcode areas in our community are above the Scottish average, as are outcomes for younger learners, those with disabilities, ▇▇▇▇ learners, and others irrespective of protected characteristic. The College is a longstanding ‘Disability Confident’ employer and offers arrange of flexible support and opportunities to support engagement within the workforce. Mental health issues are a significant issue for the College and remain one of the main reasons cited for learners withdrawing from their studies. The College and our Students’ Association/Sports Union are working together to deliver on our Mental Health Strategy and Partnership Agreement and related action plan. This work is linked through our Wellbeing Strategy and is progressing well and is benefiting learners in all parts of the College The College has invested heavily in a Health, Wellbeing and Resilience project that has had a significant impact on staff and learner wellbeing. This work includes the rolling out of WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Planning) Resilience and other training for learner and staff groups, with a focus on building awareness and capacity across the College community on how to identify, avoid and deal with the most common mental health issues at the earliest possible stage. Through our online wellbeing hub, all staff have access to a resources toolkit of approaches that are used to raise awareness and good practice around mental health and resilience, alongside support and guidance on managing mental health issues. Over 80% of all staff have benefitted from dedicated mental health training, including Mental Health First Aid. The College has welcomed the funding for mental health counselling and related support and will continue to extend the range and depth of support available to support the mental health and wellbeing of learners. The creation of a new Mental health Team leader role in July 2021 will support the expansion of this work alongside greater synergy with equivalent support for staff. We are continuing our effective partnership with the University of Abertay to enhance the counselling opportunities available to learners. This work supplements the very extensive range of student support and provides access to trained counsellors that require additional experience to complete their professional registration. The College has embedded this additional support fully within our student services provision to ensure that learners receive an integrated and ‘wrap around’ service that addresses the interconnected mental health counselling and other support needs of learners. Our innovative Project Search development is supporting employability for young people with learning disabilities, delivering learning and employment opportunities through delivery of learning within supported work placements. The College is an active supporter of the Gender Based Violence campaign and has led and participated in several events and development sessions to expand awareness of gender based violence issues and embed the Equally Safe toolkit and good practice approaches. This includes the provision of rape and sexual abuse centre (RASAC) training as a part of our wider RESPECT provision for learners and the rolling out of specialist support training for Student Services and other frontline staff. During 2021/2022 D&A has also joined a FE_HE group organised by Police Scotland to share resources, information, and good practice across the north of Scotland. The College is delivering its GbV strategy and policy guidance for staff and students on preventing and eradicating gender based violence and has clear support and policy guidelines for staff on the identification, management, and responses to issues of gender based violence. All College recruitment is undertaken on an open and non-gender specific basis, with overall student recruitment reflecting the gender balance within the population as a whole. Within this, however, the College recognises that there remains a clear gender split across a range of curriculum areas. This is especially marked within Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subject areas and Personal Care subjects such as Hairdressing/Beauty and Care. Analysis and actions in respect of gender equality are detailed within our published Gender Action Plan, and work is progressing under this plan to reduce gender segregation within the curriculum and to provide positive opportunities for non-traditional participation within subject areas. Creating sustained change through this work continues to be challenging, particularly during the COVID 19 pandemic where it is not possible to organise and support many of the taster events and activities that encourage participation and engagement within atypical subject areas. Improvements in female participation in STEM subjects will be a major feature of the work undertaken through the Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc and the Tay Cities Engineering Partnership Projects. Equality analysis highlights consistency of successful learner outcomes irrespective of gender or other protected characteristics. Outcomes for minority gender learners within subject areas are strongly positive and in line with successful outcomes for other learner groups. Through the course of this agreement, the College will continue to support and prioritise atypical recruitment in segregated subject areas and will continue to work strategically with our school and other partners to promote greater awareness raising and expand the offer of senior phase, broad general education, and primary level activity that directly addresses gender segregation in the curriculum. The College has a small community of transgender learners and staff, and has actively contributed to the national TransEDU research findings. Our ▇▇▇▇▇▇ of Angus group provides a supportive community environment for learners and we will continue to work towards the implementation of the recommendations of the TransEDU Scotland report. The College has published its British Sign Language (BSL) plan, and supports a number of learners with hearing impairments to successfully achieve each year. We have extensive and positive links with local hearing support groups and engage actively with a broad range of self- employed BSL signers. The implementation of the plan is overseen through our Student Services team, with outcomes reported through our Equality and Diversity Strategy Group to our Board of Management Human Resource and Development Committee.

Equalities and Inclusion. In addition NESCol strives to support people from a clear focus wide range of backgrounds to access a high-quality educational provision and ultimately improve their positive destinations in life. The College continues to seek to ensure that as an organisation it creates - year-on-year - a more equal, diverse and inclusive learning and working environment for students and staff alike where everyone is respected, valued and supported. NESCol is committed to offering a curriculum that provides opportunities for those who can benefit from education and progress onto further education and/or employment. The College seeks to provide opportunities that are accessible to people irrespective of socio-economic status and the various protected characteristics. Providing access includes the provision of dedicated courses were appropriate (e.g. learners with additional needs) and/or providing additional tailored guidance and other support (e.g. care experienced). Consideration is given to meeting the needs of specific groups of learners (e.g. hard to reach, additional needs, care experience) when planning the curriculum offer. At the time of writing, the College is preparing its Equality Mainstreaming Report for publication in April 2021 and has also identified four Equality Outcomes to be addressed over the period 2021-26. These Outcomes relate to the disability attainment gap, biological sex representation and success, digital poverty and literacy, and community partnership working. Also at the time of writing, work has commenced on improving the College’s approach to equality impact assessment to ensure that the needs of the diverse student body are considered in every aspect of the student experience. This work includes awareness raising, additional training and guidance and the review of equality impact assessment documentation. A college culture in which innovation can flourish and economic recovery growth is supported continues to be developed and embedded at NESCol. The College believes that research is essential in solving grand social and economic challenges, and given the contribution that colleges make to the national economy, and their role as civic-anchors within their region, NESCol is supportive of a direction of travel to encourage more high level research and analysis focused on the college sector, enabling the creation of richer and more sector-specific guidance to support the delivery of evidence based practice. With so much innovation within colleges in relation to pedagogy due to the ongoing pandemic, student support and the delivery of blended vocational training it seems an opportune moment to establish mechanisms that enable sector level research to be commissioned and managed internally by the sector. NESCol expects to be at the heart of the economic growthrecovery in North East Scotland, the College also cites the generation of social well-being offering innovative practice and thriving communities as a central pillar of our 2025 strategyideas to help new and existing businesses succeed. This pledge recognises our role will included working closely with agency partners, and responsibilities as an anchor institution in improving people’s life chances by ensuring access specifically Elevator UK, to high quality support business growth locally NESCol is committed to environmental sustainability, where the needs of education that is appropriate the present do not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, enables them to reach their full potential (regardless of characteristic or background) and equips them with the vocational and essential skills necessary to succeed in the world of work. Our Outcome Agreement itself has been subject to Equalities Impact Assessment which is available on our website. The College monitors closely the participation (and mainstreaming) of learners from protected characteristic groups and publishes detailed statistics biennially. Our analysis of equalities data within our Equalities Mainstreaming Report shows that the broad distribution of protected characteristic groups within our student population matches the distribution found within the wider population of Dundee and Angus. The College is engaged committed to continuous improvement and through implementing an Environmental Management System the general management of environmental performance in several projects the College has been greatly improved benefiting both staff and activities that support those students. All NESCol campuses are fully accredited with issues of equality that are compounded by socio-economic disadvantage. This includes a broad range of curriculum provision and support through our Access and Inclusion curriculum and engagement with a wide range of regional inclusiveness projectsthe Environmental Management System (EMS) bsi ISO14001. The College is an active member very aware of its educational, organisational and supporter social responsibilities; therefore in promoting environmental sustainability through ISO14001 the College promotes knowledge, attitudes and skills that enable all staff and students to make decisions relating to the impact of their actions on the environment. All staff and students are encouraged to act in ways that promote a sustainable environment through reducing, reusing and recycling and implementing safe and ethical disposal procedures. By implementing its Environmental & Social Sustainability Strategy, the College aims to be a leader in sustainability. As NESCol is a signatory to the Universities and Colleges Climate Commitment for Scotland (UCCCfS) and the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges’ (EAUC) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Accord it recognises the importance and relevance of the Dundee Fairness CommissionUnited Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Through the EAUC the College has also agreed to complete the Sustainability Leadership Scorecard (SLS). At the time of writing, the College is in the process of finalising a new 5-year Carbon Management Plan (CMP). The new Plan will allow the College to build on successes and ensure it continues to deliver the benefits of this programme over the years. The College will reduce CO2 emissions from its activities by 50% from the 2018-19 baseline by 2025. The College is one also extremely mindful of only a handful to receive Scottish Government funding to tackle issues of Child Poverty. This funding is supporting extensive engagement with young people and lone parents across our communities to begin their engagement with education and move through into mainstream provision and employment. Details of this work are available here Learner outcomes, progression, and post course success for learners from the 10% most deprived postcode areas in our community are above the Scottish average, as are outcomes for younger learners, those with disabilities, ▇▇▇▇ learners, and others irrespective of protected characteristic. The College is a longstanding ‘Disability Confident’ employer and offers arrange of flexible support and opportunities to support engagement within the workforce. Mental health issues are a significant issue for the College and remain one of the main reasons cited for learners withdrawing from their studies. The College and our Students’ Association/Sports Union are working together to deliver on our Mental Health Strategy and Partnership Agreement and related action plan. This work is linked through our Wellbeing Strategy and is progressing well and is benefiting learners in all parts of the College The College has invested heavily in a Health, Wellbeing and Resilience project that has had a significant impact on staff and learner wellbeing. This work includes the rolling out of WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Planning) Resilience and other training for learner and staff groups, with a focus on building awareness and capacity across the College community on how to identify, avoid and deal with the most common mental health issues at the earliest possible stage. Through our online wellbeing hub, all staff have access to a resources toolkit of approaches that are used to raise awareness and good practice around mental health and resilience, alongside support and guidance on managing mental health issues. Over 80% of all staff have benefitted from dedicated mental health training, including Mental Health First Aid. The College has welcomed the funding for mental health counselling and related support Carbon neutrality and will continue to extend work towards having a net zero carbon footprint, in line with Zero Waste Scotland’s five key steps to identify the range and depth of support available most effective ways to support the mental health and wellbeing of learners. The creation of a new Mental health Team leader role in July 2021 will support the expansion of this work alongside greater synergy with equivalent support for staff. We are continuing reduce our effective partnership with the University of Abertay to enhance the counselling opportunities available to learners. This work supplements the very extensive range of student support and provides access to trained counsellors that require additional experience to complete their professional registrationemissions by doing things differently. The College has embedded this additional support fully within our student services provision to ensure that learners receive an integrated and ‘wrap around’ service that addresses the interconnected mental health counselling and other support needs of learners. Our innovative Project Search development is supporting employability for young people with learning disabilities, delivering learning and employment opportunities through delivery of learning within supported work placements. The College is an active supporter of the Gender Based Violence campaign and has led and participated in several events and development sessions to expand awareness of gender based violence issues and embed the Equally Safe toolkit and good practice approaches. This includes the provision of rape and sexual abuse centre (RASAC) training as a part of our wider RESPECT provision for learners and the rolling out of specialist support training for Student Services and other frontline staff. During 2021/2022 D&A has also joined a FE_HE group organised by Police Scotland to share resources, information, and good practice across the north of Scotland. The College is delivering its GbV strategy and policy guidance for staff and students on preventing and eradicating gender based violence and has clear support and policy guidelines for staff on the identification, management, and responses to issues of gender based violence. All College recruitment is undertaken on an open and non-gender specific basis, with overall student recruitment reflecting the gender balance within the population as a whole. Within this, however, the College recognises that there remains a clear gender split across a range of curriculum areas. This is especially marked within Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subject areas and Personal Care subjects such as Hairdressing/Beauty and Care. Analysis and actions in respect of gender equality are detailed within our published Gender Action Plan, and work is progressing under this plan to reduce gender segregation within the curriculum and to provide positive opportunities for non-traditional participation within subject areas. Creating sustained change through this work continues to be challenginga leader and innovator in environmental and sustainability issues, particularly during demonstrated by progress year-on-year towards its sustainability targets. NESCol also contributes well to national and international goals. For the COVID 19 pandemic where it is not possible to organise and support many of the taster events and activities that encourage participation and engagement within atypical subject areas. Improvements in female participation in STEM subjects will be a major feature of the work undertaken through the Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc and the Tay Cities Engineering Partnership Projects. Equality analysis highlights consistency of successful learner outcomes irrespective of gender or other protected characteristics. Outcomes for minority gender learners within subject areas are strongly positive and in line with successful outcomes for other learner groups. Through the course of this agreementfuture, the College will continue to support and prioritise atypical recruitment in segregated subject identify areas and will continue to work strategically with our school and other partners to promote greater awareness raising and expand the offer of senior phase, broad general education, and primary level activity that directly addresses gender segregation where it can make significant positive impact in the curriculum. The College has a small community area of transgender learners and staff, and has actively contributed to the national TransEDU research findings. Our ▇▇▇▇▇▇ of Angus group provides a supportive community environment for learners and we will continue to work towards the implementation of the recommendations of the TransEDU Scotland report. The College has published its British Sign Language (BSL) plan, and supports a number of learners with hearing impairments to successfully achieve each year. We have extensive and positive links with local hearing support groups and engage actively with a broad range of self- employed BSL signers. The implementation of the plan is overseen through our Student Services team, with outcomes reported through our Equality and Diversity Strategy Group to our Board of Management Human Resource and Development Committeeenvironmental sustainability.

Equalities and Inclusion. ‌ In addition to a clear focus on economic recovery and the creation of economic growth, the College also cites the generation of social well-being and thriving communities as a central pillar of our 2025 strategy. This pledge recognises our role and responsibilities as an anchor institution in improving people’s life chances by ensuring access to high quality of education that is appropriate to their needs, enables them to reach their full potential (regardless of characteristic or background) and equips them with the vocational and essential skills necessary to succeed in the world of work. Our Outcome Agreement itself has been subject to Equalities Impact Assessment which is available on our website. The College monitors closely the participation (and mainstreaming) of learners from protected characteristic groups and publishes detailed statistics biennially. Our analysis of equalities data within our Equalities Mainstreaming Report shows that the broad distribution of protected characteristic groups within our student population matches the distribution found within the wider population of Dundee and Angus. The College is engaged in several projects and activities that support those with issues of equality that are compounded by socio-economic disadvantage. This includes a broad range of curriculum provision and support through our Access and Inclusion curriculum and engagement with a wide range of regional inclusiveness projects. The College is an active member and supporter of the Dundee Fairness Commission. The College is one of only a handful to receive Scottish Government funding to tackle issues of Child Poverty. This funding is supporting extensive engagement with young people and lone parents across our communities to begin their engagement with education and move through into mainstream provision and employment. Details of this work are available here Learner outcomes, progression, and post course success for learners from the 10% most deprived postcode areas in our community are above the Scottish average, as are outcomes for younger learners, those with disabilities, ▇▇▇▇ learners, and others irrespective of protected characteristic. The College is a longstanding ‘Disability Confident’ employer and offers arrange of flexible support and opportunities to support engagement within the workforce. Mental health issues are a significant issue for the College and remain one of the main reasons cited for learners withdrawing from their studies. The College and our Students’ Association/Sports Union are working together to deliver on our Mental Health Strategy and Partnership Agreement and related action plan. This work is linked through our Wellbeing Strategy and is progressing well and is benefiting learners in all parts of the College The College has invested heavily in a Health, Wellbeing and Resilience project that has had a significant impact on staff and learner wellbeing. This work includes the rolling out of WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Planning) Resilience and other training for learner and staff groups, with a focus on building awareness and capacity across the College community on how to identify, avoid and deal with the most common mental health issues at the earliest possible stage. Through our online wellbeing hub, all staff have access to a resources toolkit of approaches that are used to raise awareness and good practice around mental health and resilience, alongside support and guidance on managing mental health issues. Over 80% of all staff have benefitted from dedicated mental health training, including Mental Health First Aid. The College has welcomed the funding for mental health counselling and related support and will continue to extend the range and depth of support available to support the mental health and wellbeing of learners. The creation of a new Mental health Team leader role in July 2021 will support the expansion of this work alongside greater synergy with equivalent support for staff. We are continuing our effective partnership with the University of Abertay to enhance the counselling opportunities available to learners. This work supplements the very extensive range of student support and provides access to trained counsellors that require additional experience to complete their professional registration. The College has embedded this additional support fully within our student services provision to ensure that learners receive an integrated and ‘wrap around’ service that addresses the interconnected mental health counselling and other support needs of learners. Our innovative Project Search development is supporting employability for young people with learning disabilities, delivering learning and employment opportunities through delivery of learning within supported work placements. The College is an active supporter of the Gender Based Violence campaign and has led and participated in several events and development sessions to expand awareness of gender based violence issues and embed the Equally Safe toolkit and good practice approaches. This includes the provision of rape and sexual abuse centre (RASAC) training as a part of our wider RESPECT provision for learners and the rolling out of specialist support training for Student Services and other frontline staff. During 2021/2022 D&A has also joined a FE_HE FE - HE group organised by Police Scotland to share resources, information, and good practice across the north of Scotland. The College is delivering its GbV strategy and policy guidance for staff and students on preventing and eradicating gender based violence and has clear support and policy guidelines for staff on the identification, management, and responses to issues of gender based violence. All College recruitment is undertaken on an open and non-gender specific basis, with overall student recruitment reflecting the gender balance within the population as a whole. Within this, however, the College recognises that there remains a clear gender split across a range of curriculum areas. This is especially marked within Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subject areas and Personal Care subjects such as Hairdressing/Beauty and Care. Analysis and actions in respect of gender equality are detailed within our published Gender Action Plan, and work is progressing under this plan to reduce gender segregation within the curriculum and to provide positive opportunities for non-traditional participation within subject areas. Creating sustained change through this work continues to be challenging, particularly during the COVID 19 pandemic where it is not possible to organise and support many of the taster events and activities that encourage participation and engagement within atypical subject areas. Improvements in female participation in STEM subjects will be a major feature of the work undertaken through the Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc and the Tay Cities Engineering Partnership Projects. Equality analysis highlights consistency of successful learner outcomes irrespective of gender or other protected characteristics. Outcomes for minority gender learners within subject areas are strongly positive and in line with successful outcomes for other learner groups. Through the course of this agreement, the College will continue to support and prioritise atypical recruitment in segregated subject areas and will continue to work strategically with our school and other partners to promote greater awareness raising and expand the offer of senior phase, broad general education, and primary level activity that directly addresses gender segregation in the curriculum. The College has a small community of transgender learners and staff, staff and has actively contributed to the national TransEDU research findings. Our ▇▇▇▇▇▇ of Angus group provides a supportive community environment for learners learners, and we will continue to work towards the implementation of the recommendations of the TransEDU Scotland report. The College has published its British Sign Language (BSL) plan, and supports a number of several learners with hearing impairments to successfully achieve each year. We have extensive and positive links with local hearing support groups and engage actively with a broad range of self- self-employed BSL signers. The implementation of the plan is overseen through our Student Services team, with outcomes reported through our Equality and Diversity Strategy Group to our Board of Management Human Resource and Development Committee.