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British Council Northern Ireland

Public Authority Statutory Equality and Good Relations Duties

Annual Progress Report 2014-15

Contact:

• Section 75 of the NI Act 1998 and Equality Scheme

Name: Sarah Brisbane

Telephone: 02890 192201

Email: [email protected]

• Section 49A of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and Disability Action Plan

As above

Name:

Telephone:

Email:

Documents published relating to our Equality Scheme can be found at:

http://nireland.britishcouncil.org/about/equal-opportunities-diversity

Signature:

This report has been prepared using a template circulated by the Equality Commission.

It presents our progress in fulfilling our statutory equality and good relations duties, and implementing Equality Scheme commitments and Disability Action

Plans.

This report reflects progress made between April 2014 and March 2015

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PART A – Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and Equality Scheme

Section 1: Equality and good relations outcomes, impacts and good practice

1 In 2014-15, please provide examples of key policy/service delivery developments made by the public authority in this reporting period to better promote equality of opportunity and good relations; and the outcomes and improvements achieved.

Please relate these to the implementation of your statutory equality and good relations duties and Equality Scheme where appropriate.

The British Council's cultural relations work aims to develop trust and understanding between different nations and cultures, drawing on a hugely diverse workforce and set of contacts. It therefore needs strong alignment to principles and practices of equality, diversity and inclusion as well as our core values; these include valuing people, integrity, mutuality, professionalism and creativity.

- British Council Northern Ireland Senior Management Structure:

Responsibility for the effective implementation of our equal opportunities and good relations lies with Director Northern Ireland. Director Northern Ireland is accountable to the British Council for the development, implementation, maintenance and review of the equality scheme in accordance with Section 75 and Schedule 9 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, including any good practice or guidance that has been or may be issued by the Equality Commission.

The Director Northern Ireland works in partnership with the Northern Ireland Advisory Committee (NIAC) which meets quarterly with senior managers and this forum provides the opportunity to discuss and provide updates on our programmes which aim to build trust with a diverse range of people, including those from the 9 categories covered by Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act (the Act). Our activities in our programme areas ensure we comply with the requirements of the Act.

- British Council Northern Ireland premises:

As reported previously, British Council Northern Ireland moved premises in 2012. An independent disability access audit was carried out by Disability Action who made a number of recommendations actioned before the premises were occupied. Following negotiations with the management company Osbourne King and Belfast City Council the following has now also been actioned:

- More robust bollards in place outside the building (to protect against illegal parking on the footpath/pedestrian area adjacent to the building, thus also offering easier access and further protection to wheelchair users or those with disabilities)

- A bicycle store is now provided in the building basement for staff

- Promotion of Belfast Bicycle Scheme for visiting staff (back rack adjacent to office)

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- Cycle2Work is continuing for another year. This government-backed scheme aims to encourage commuters to use bicycles for all or part of the journey to work. It enables employees to lease a bicycle and related equipment (up to a value of £1000) through a salary sacrifice agreement which is exempt from Income Tax and National Insurance during the lease period, affording a tax-free benefit to staff.

- CCTV to assist disabled visitors/guests has been requested and approved for the premises

- A chair lift has been approved and ordered for the stairs throughout the premises

- Personal Emergency Evacuation procedures are in place to facilitate safe egress for persons with restricted mobility

- Display screen equipment assessments have taken place to promote good ergonomics and healthy environment

- Telephones have been fitted with inductive couplers to assist those with hearing difficulties. Additionally a text relay service/text phone is available upon request.

- British Council Northern Ireland Work:

EDUCATION & SOCIETY

The school sector is an important platform for British Council work in creating educational opportunities and building trust internationally, offering engagement with large and influential groups of policy makers, educators and young people throughout the world. Through our global network and portfolio of schools programmes, we connect our school sector to others throughout the world to achieve two outcomes:

• ‘Enriched education’ - Sustained collaboration between us and other countries on professional development, curricula and system reform, and policy dialogue, which provides improved educational outcomes for young people

• ‘Global citizenship increased’ – Young people and educators demonstrate an increased capacity in the skills, understanding and outlook required to work in a global economy and contribute responsibly to society, locally and globally.

Both of these outcomes contribute to a more prosperous and secure society.

These endeavours are supported by many of our programmes some of which are briefed below;-

Study, Work, Create

The new web portal Study, Work, Create launched in 2013 (http://www.britishcountil.org/study-work-create) pulled together information on all the various programmes and study opportunities offered by the British Council in one place. This has resulted in considerable increase in enquiry level and driven traffic to the website up by 250% since its inception. As a result there is a significant increase in awareness of the broad range of programmes offered. To date there has been a 12% increase in participation in programmes targeted at the 16 to 25 year old groups (groups

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previously under-represented)

Connecting Classrooms

Connecting Classroooms is a global education programme for schools, designed to help young people learn about global issues and become responsible global citizens, with the skills they need to succeed in a global economy. Working in over 50 countries, it offers school partnerships, professional development courses, school accreditation and opportunities for educators and policy-makers to share best practice with international counterparts. The partnership offers young people the chance to collaborate directly with their international peers, bringing challenging global issues to life and creating meaningful cross-cultural relationships.

The British Council offers funding of £1,500 for partnerships between schools in Northern Ireland and other countries. The grant must be spent on visits from at least one teacher from each of the schools in the partnership.

Within Northern Ireland, Connecting Classrooms recruit nursery, primary and secondary schools with the aim of getting these partnerships to apply for funding. For Northern Ireland we currently have a good representation of schools from different areas and a good representation of schools for children with special educational needs (14% of introduced partnerships). Half of the schools we currently work with are under maintained management with just under half being controlled schools (with a further one integrated school involved). One of the schools also teaches through the medium of Irish. We are keen to get more schools involved from areas that have traditionally not engaged in British Council programmes, for example, East Belfast, however our programme is open to any school throughout the region that is interested in school partnering and the funding opportunities available to them. Support is offered to all schools with an eligible partnership at all stages of the partnership journey.

eTwinning

eTwinning enables schools in Europe to work together using Information and Communication Technology (ICT), creating an online community for schools across Europe. The portal provides online tools for teachers to find partners, set up projects, share ideas, exchange best practice and start working together, immediately using various customised tools available on the eTwinning platform. The platform is shared by teachers, head teachers, librarians and other school staff, all participating in an exciting learning community across Europe, sharing skills and developing new perspectives. Currently available in twenty seven languages the eTwinning portal has the involvement of nearly 305,000 members and over 8135 active projects between two or more schools across Europe. As of Dec 2014, there are 127 schools across Northern Ireland actively participating and 23 eTwinning projects engaging with partners worldwide.

SchoolsOnline

SchoolsOnline provides a one stop global portal for teachers around the world to find school partners, explore teaching resources and establish international links for

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professional development.

See our website www.britishcouncil.org/schoolsonline

International Schools Award

The international Schools Award also has a focus on opening the window to multiple cultures and bringing this into the classroom. It creates partnership with schools overseas to teach pupils about life in other countries and develop them as global citizens. Taking part in the award links schools with others around the world, teaches pupils about other countries and cultures, provides an internationally recognised accreditation for the school’s international work and enhances teaching standards through sharing best practice from other countries. In 2014, 10 Northern Ireland schools achieved the full accreditation and a further 10 obtained the foundation or intermediate award.

Language Assistants

Language assistants work in primary and secondary schools, including sixth form and further education colleges. These assistants are native-level speakers of French, Spanish, German, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Russian and Irish who support the teaching and learning of languages and cultures in the classroom by working together with a teacher in the classroom. The language assistant helps develop lesson plans and extra-curricular activities (e.g. lunch time clubs) focused on their country’s culture, suited to particular age-groups and support the creation and/or development of an international partnership with a school in their country.

The benefits are two fold - at primary level the language assistants support the introduction of language learning, including implementation of the primary languages strategies while supporting teachers to improve their language proficiency and cultural knowledge. At secondary level, language assistants help pupils to communicate confidently and spark motivation for language learning; improve overall standards in language learning recognised by official inspecting bodies and enhance teachers’ language and cultural knowledge. Language assistants also work across the curriculum, develop projects and support international partnerships. The British Council provides induction and training on arrival, and continued support for schools and language assistants throughout the year.

In an effort to broaden scope for Irish language assistants throughout Northern Ireland, the British Council appointed an external consultant to provide advice/ make recommendations for strategies to increase the number of Irish language assistants employed in Northern Ireland schools. Currently for 2014-15 we have 62 Modern Language Assistants in Northern Ireland and 92 Northern Irish English Language Assistants abroad.

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EAL Nexus project

This project aims to support teachers working with pupils, learners and their parents whose first language is not English. In Northern Ireland, EAL or ‘English as an Additional Language’ pupils are known as newcomer pupils.

A pilot project took place during the 2014-15 academic year and offered a series of support sessions to two NI schools , Malone College and Forge Integrated Primary School. In Forge Primary School just under 10% of the pupils speak English as their second language, with Polish, Somalia, Russian and Cantonese among the nine other languages spoken.

A full day seminar was held in Belfast in March 2015. 56 teachers representing primary and post primary schools from across Northern Ireland attended. The seminar covered the background to the EAL sector in Northern Ireland and provided resources and support for teachers.

A half day seminar was held in Belfast on 18 May where Malone College and Forge Integrated Primary School disseminated their learning. A website with information and resources has been developed: https://eal.britishcouncil.org/free-resources-teachers. Unfortunately funding for the project won’t be running beyond the pilot stage which ends June 2015, although the website will remain.

Higher/Further Education

As an international cultural relations organisation the British Council promotes and supports the exchange and mobility of students, scholars and academics around the world. It aims to shape and drive international collaboration of higher education through policy dialogues and research.

It recognises the need to develop intercultural skills to increase student employability in the home market and to give them a competitive edge internationally. It supports staff and student mobility into and out of all regions of the UK. It promotes and supports higher education collaborations and partnerships between universities, industry and governments.

UK-international Higher Education partnerships

The following are examples of opportunities for Northern Ireland Institutions to become involved in international partnerships.

Britain-Israel Research and Academic Exchange Partnership Programme (BIRAX)

Global Innovation Initiative (GII)

Africa Knowledge-Transfer Partnerships

International Strategic Partnerships in Research and Education (INSPIRE) Research and Education Network for Knowledge Economy Initiatives (RENKEI) UK India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI)

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UK-Sino Knowledge Economy Partnerships

UK-Turkey HE Industry Partnerships

Mobility and exchange programmes

The aim of the International Mobility scheme is to encourage more UK students to gain an international dimension in their education by spending a period of time overseas. There are a number of different models available.

Inward

Armen Tel Company Scholarships

BG Group Tanzania International Postgraduate Scholarship Scheme for

Geoscience and Engineering

BIRAX Fellowship Scheme

Bond British Overseas Industrial Placement Scheme

GREAT Scholarships

International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience

(IAESTE) – see details below

Syria HE Capacity Building Project – British Council Hardship Fund

Tullow Group Scholarships Scheme Charles Wallace Trust Fellowship Fundación La Caixa

Goa Education Trust Scholarships Hornby Educational Trust Scholarships International Atomic Energy Agency Scholarships Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

Nigeria Overseas Liquid Natural Gas Overseas Postgraduate Scholarships

Outward

Erasmus+

English Language Assistants

Generation UK

Study USA – see details below

UKIERI Study India Programme

International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience

(IAESTE) – see details below

Policy and strategy in HE

Education research

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Global Education Dialogues

Going Global conference - see details below

Inward missions and visits Outward missions and visits Roundtables

Study USA

The Study USA Programme offers undergraduate students an opportunity to study business and management for one academic year at universities and colleges in the USA with the purpose of producing graduates with an international, business-oriented perspective. The programme is funded by the Department for Employment and Learning and delivered by the British Council. Future Study USA graduates from Northern Ireland should be well placed to help drive Northern Ireland businesses forward, recognise development opportunities and develop the skills base of staff working in Northern Ireland. The programme partners with Colleges in the United States of America. All Study USA students undertake an ambassadorial role, regularly delivering talks about Northern Ireland, providing cultural, societal and economic perspectives to fellow students in their respective US university. To date there are approximately 1900 alumni of the programme since 1994. Currently 55 placements are available per year. In 2014 Study USA celebrated its 20th Anniversary. This was marked with a 20th Anniversary Dinner held in Titanic Belfast and attended by Minister Stephen Farry (DEL), Deputy Chief of Mission Liz Dibble (US Embassy) as well over 200 stakeholders and alumni of the programme in addition to the graduating class of 2013 – 2014.

IAESTE

The International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience (IAESTE) arranges paid course-related vacation training abroad on a reciprocal exchange basis so that in every participating country IAESTE trainees are both entering and leaving for placements. IAESTE has over 65 years of experience and operates in over 80 countries. Since its foundation IAESTE has exchanged in excess of 350,000 students worldwide, playing a key role in the development of engineers and scientists able to make their mark in a global economy. Nineteen students from Northern Ireland are currently engaged in IAESTE placements this year benefitting from; the provision of science, engineering and applied arts training experience abroad which in turn provides Northern Ireland employers with well qualified and motivated trainees. The programmes provide a source of cultural enrichment for trainees and their host employers. IAESTE provides a service to three target constituencies: employers, students, and academic institutions. The programme is employer-led in that no exchange can be arranged until a commitment has been made by an employer to host an international student. Participating employers may be in industry as well as research and academic institutions. The exchange of trainees is conducted on a reciprocal basis between member countries.

Over the years IAESTE has created lasting friendships around the world, fostered international business and research links, assisted in the preparation and recruitment of an international workforce and enhanced international cultural relations.

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Local committees are groups of student volunteers who promote IAESTE in their universities and local communities. They play an important role in welcoming IAESTE trainees and in some cases help us to raise placements with local industry. Belfast is one of five local committees in the UK. The purpose of the local committee in Northern Ireland is to promote a positive identity of Northern Ireland to visiting IAESTE trainees and ensure that they return home with a lasting memory of our country and an appreciation of its history and culture.

Erasmus+

The British Council currently delivers the Erasmus + contract working with its long-standing national Agency partner Ecorys UK. All regions of the UK benefit; the budget allocated is for the whole UK, with no sub-division by country or region. This means that funds are awarded in response to the demand from each country and region in the UK. In practice Northern Ireland punches above its weight when comparing population size with funds allocated.

The Erasmus+ programme provides opportunities for student and staff mobility in higher education and further education institutions as well as institutional partnerships. Erasmus+ is an integrated programme, based around key actions rather than sectors of education. The three key actions funded by the programme include: Learning mobility of individuals; co-operation for innovation and good practices; and support for policy reform.

A new structure was implemented in 2014 for the Erasmus+ programme to reflect a need for greater simplification and streamlining. By bringing together seven different programmes and initiatives, the European Commission aims to make its funding programme more efficient and more accessible. This involves simpler application rules and procedures, as well as avoidance of fragmentation and duplication. Further efforts have been made to make the programmes more user friendly and easier to navigate for end users.

The new approach aims to provide; more synergies and interaction between formal, informal and non-formal learning, more cross-sectoral partnerships within the world of work and a stronger focus on EU added value. Crucially what the programme aims to address is a reduction in high youth unemployment levels; skill gaps; and increase the employability of graduates.

The hope is to reduce early school leaving, improve attainment in basic skills and reinforce quality in early childhood education and care. Main activities focus on cross-sectoral cooperation between schools and other organisations leading to i.e. curriculum development, reinforcing basic skills, combating violence in schools.

The development of strategic partnerships will facilitate the exchange of groups of pupils on study/training periods over set periods to reinforce linguistic skills and intercultural awareness.

In Northern Ireland the British Council has been working closely with the Department of Justice Northern Ireland, Department of Education Northern Ireland and Department for Employment and Learning Northern Ireland to raise awareness of and open up access to

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opportunities available within the Erasmus + programme. It is hoped that this will in turn increase participation to the programme. For further information please see the website www.erasmusplus.org.uk

Generation UK – China Opportunities

This programme provides three strands of opportunity for staff and student mobility.

• Academic studies in China – studies can be up to one year in Chinese language studies or other academic fields.

• Internship in China – participants can apply for a 2-month internship programme in China.

• UK Careers’ Advisers professional development – British Council will organise missions to UK and China to link businesses and companies with UK institutions.

For schools;

HBSC Mandarin Speaking competition

Annual competitions run in partnership with HSBC, which provide an opportunity to give secondary schools and students the chance to test their Mandarin speaking skills in front of a panel of judges and schools from all over the UK. The winners of the different categories will be invited to travel to Beijing for a week.

China Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP)

Internships in Suzhou Industrial Park for six to twelve months from September 2013 to August 2014.

UK-India Educational Research Initiative (UKIERI)

UKIERI aims to enhance educational links between India and the UK, focusing on leadership development, innovation partnerships, skills development and enhancing mobility.

• Partnerships between educational institutions across higher and further education.

• Mobility grants for researchers, staff and students between India and the UK.

• Workshops, seminars and conferences for capacity building and professional development of faculty staff in educational institutions.

• Policy dialogues on areas of mutual interest.

Going Global

Going Global is an international conference held annually. It is organised to discuss the future of global higher education. The forum brings together education world leaders debating international higher and further education issues and challenges, and

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describing collaborative solutions.

Society

Our work in society helps citizens and institutions contribute to a more inclusive, open and prosperous world and connects local issues to global themes. Our programmes focus on four key themes; Governance and Civil Society, Women and Girl’s Empowerment, Social Enterprise and Access to justice, society and conflict resolution.

We plan to engage more deeply with the central British Council Society team in 2015. British Council Northern Ireland and the Society team will continue to refine and prioritise a joint agenda through the prism of NI priorities and there is significant potential to develop a strong narrative feeding in to the CSR Stabilisation strand.

a) Governance and civil society

We work with civil society organisations in a number of ways: to enhance their capacity to play a part in democratic processes in terms of lobbying and policy dialogue representing citizens' interests; to develop their capacity to deliver services either on behalf of government or others; and to work for the benefit of under-represented or over-looked sections of society to promote community cohesion.

b) Women’s and girls’ empowerment

Our work in the area of gender and the equalities agenda is recognition of the need to share experiences and approaches to tackle the continuing inequalities and discrimination faced by marginalised groups in society. Our gender equality work involves working with British Council offices overseas to share the UK’s experiences and initiatives that have been developed to address the inequalities that women face such as violence against women (including trafficking) and women’s participation in politics.

c) Social enterprise

We recognise social enterprise as a tool to achieve fairer, more inclusive economies and sustainable societies. As global interest in social enterprise continues to spread, we can support the establishment and growth of individual social enterprises and advise policy-makers who want to create the right environment for social enterprises to flourish.

We work in partnership with corporations, foundations and intermediary organisations as well as universities, think tanks and social investors to provide mentoring and funding to social entrepreneurs.

d) Access to justice, security and conflict resolution

We help societies achieve change by working collaboratively with governments, donors and civil society to deliver value for money solutions that are both effective and sustainable. Strengthening the rule of law, ensuring access to justice and addressing and resolving conflict are fundamental to human security and the development of stable economic states where all citizens’ voices can be heard and economic opportunities

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realised.

Active Citizens is our flagship programme in civil society. The programme promotes community cohesion and improvement through civic engagement or volunteering in around 30 countries. Run with partner organisations, it aims to increase the contribution of community leaders towards achieving sustainable development both locally and globally. It also encourages peer- to-peer relations across cultural, geographic and political boundaries via a lively online social network of participants, as well as occasional international exchange visits.

Essentially, it is about making sure once the support is gone, the participating communities can keep their projects going well into the future. It is about building trust, developing communication and learning about other societies. A crucial element is also cascading the learning to others and so spreading positive change beyond the immediate community.

ARTS

NORTHERN IRELAND ARTS

Architecture

For the Venice Architecture Biennale 2014, the British Council launched its Venice Fellowships programme. In partnership with 12 architecture schools and arts institutions from around the UK and beyond, the programme offered 50 students a unique work-study opportunity in Venice.

Ten Northern Ireland students attended representing Queens University Belfast and the University of Ulster with a month long work and study placement programme at the British Pavilion in Venice. This contributed to a dedicated architecture research programme devised around the Biennale theme of Absorbing Modernity: 1914 – 2014 and contributed to a series of projects that featured in the Belfast Festival in October 2014 supported by the British Council in partnership with the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

UK-Russia Year of Culture 2014

The UK-Russia Year of Culture celebrated the rich and diverse cultural heritage of both countries and provided a focus for the organisation in 2014. Northern Ireland content included the work of TS Elliot prize winning poet, Sinead Morrissey who was invited to read at a number of Moscow events including Books in the Park. Sinead also used her time in the city to research family ties to Moscow and continues to work with young contemporary Russian poets on translations of her work that will be published in 2015..

NI Opera made their first appearance in Moscow with a production of The Turn of the Screw at the Novaya Opera in Moscow in August 2014.

Talented schoolboy and treble singer, Tom Deazley aged 14 from Belfast, travelled to Moscow with the company for his role as ‘Miles’ in the Benjamin Britten’s opera.

The Ulster Bank Belfast Festival

The British Council’s relationship with the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival has strengthened

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over the past three years. In 2014, the British Council was invited to join the Festival Steering Board alongside the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Queen’s University, Belfast City Council and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board. Whilst the British Council is a relatively small contributor to the festival we do see the relationship growing in future years. As outlined in 2014’s Belfast Festival Review, the Festival will take a greater role as a commissioning festival and will include a showcasing element strategically around 2016. This gives British Council’s relationship with the Festival a much clearer and direct tie-in to British Council’s strategic outcomes for arts work impacting Northern Ireland’s arts and creative sectors with the development of a ‘shop window focus’ for NI arts work which with international profiling can deliver both cultural and economic gains for NI and see greater numbers of international arts professionals visiting Northern Ireland.

Creative Europe

There is existing scope for DCAL to raise its profile in Europe and expand its engagement and potential funding sources to include culture, sport, museums and libraries. Arts Council has a temporary resource in place and is in the process of establishing a permanent dedicated resource to help develop the capacity of organisations in the arts and culture sectors to engage with competitive EU funding streams. This resource, the Creative Europe Desk, will be a useful asset for NI as we seek to successfully network and raise the profile of NI arts and creative sector across Europe. The British Council and the British Film Institute are partners on this project. An EU funding seminar took place on 13th November 2014 at The Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast.

Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival

In 2014, the British Council supported the third Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival. Happy Days is a major cultural event for Northern Ireland bringing diverse communities together and mixing local and international audiences and artists. Its strong theatre programme offers international premiers and extraordinary venues delighting audiences in a celebration of Beckett’s work.

MOU with the Arts Council of Northern Ireland

The British Council is also working increasingly closely with the Arts Council of Northern Ireland on a range of strategic international programs including China, India, Russia, Brazil, France and the United States. This provides sustenance to civic life inclusively. Our artists provide the insights, conversations and connections to the wider world that enrich our society.

This core with the Arts Council of Northern Ireland also established the Artists’ International Development Fund – a fund that supports a younger generation in finding the recognition, freedom and opportunity to produce work at an international level.

The Irish Cultural Institute in Paris

A new partnership with the Irish Cultural Institute was established in 2013-14 with the Irish Cultural Institute in Paris and the new director/curator, Nora Hickey M’Sichili. The British Council is working with the Institute in partnership with the Arts Council of Northern Ireland which sees a strategic fund in place to bring an increase in activity from Northern Ireland artists and arts organisations in Paris. The partnership is part of the British Council’s relationship with the Arts Council under the MOU.

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UK City of Culture 2013: Derry-Londonderry

Following from last year’s UK City of Culture activities in Derry-Londonderry the British Council continues to work with key arts partners in the city in 2014 on legacy and touring projects. Former Chief Executive Shona McCarthy has been sharing her experiences of festivals playing a central role in the regeneration of cities and public spaces travelling to give conference papers in the Middle East and Indonesia. Artists and venues from the city were supported by the British Council in international touring and connections including Willie Doherty, Ciaran O’Dochartaigh, Locky Morris, CCA and the Void Art Gallery. Prime Cut Theatre company continued working in the city after their large-scale community event Conquest of Happiness by taking new international works to the city in 2014. Stephen Rea’s Field Day theatre company continued to develop projects since it re-established itself for the City of Culture year and toured successfully to New York collaborating with Sam Shephard and Clare Dwyer-Hogg on new commissions for the company. A full report on the British Council’s relationship with the City of Culture project will be commissioned in 2014-15.

The Cultural Skills Unit

The Cultural Skills Unit is working to develop a bespoke vocational training course for young people (post 16) which culminates in a public showcasing event at culturally significant venue(s) in the host city. To date the Cultural Skills Unit has held a roundtable to discuss the possibility of bringing Belfast which including key stakeholders, such as Arts Council NI, Belfast City Council, Cultural and Creative Skills, and key arts practitioners including the Oh Yeah Music Centre and NI Screen. Initial discussions proved positive with buy-in and support from all partners particularly Arts Council NI and Belfast City Council (including potential venues and potential funding).

The CSU staff also held a meeting with staff from Colleges NI and has prepared a document to be distributed to tutors to examine the opportunity to include the training course as a practical element of further education technical arts course in Belfast. Working with the team will create, support and strengthen opportunities for Northern Ireland’s creative and educational sector at an international level.

Artists International Development Fund

The Artists International Development Fund was established in 2012 under the MOU between the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the British Council. Its trial period ran until 2014-15. During the first three years of the fund 35 grants were given and £150K was distributed to Northern Ireland’s arts sector for international work. The fund was renewed in 2015 for a further 3 year period.

Five Films For Freedom Campaign

Between 19 and 29 March 2015, the British Council created a global social media campaign promoting freedom, equality and LGBT rights in 135 countries.

Total social media reach comprised over 75 million estimated impressions across Facebook, Twitter and Sina Weibo. Almost 5 million unique web impressions for the campaign were driven by British Council and our partner Psiphon. The highest number of viewers (over 40%) on BFI Player were from the UK. In the Northern Ireland office, the film ran on a loop in once of our conference rooms. Staff were invited to view the films

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at their leisure. Twitter stats for the campaign in Northern Ireland reached over 7500.

We will run a second fiveFilms in 2016 and we want to find or commission more international films for 2016 and are raising funds to do this.

English

English has been at the heart of the British Council's cultural relations work since 1943. What we do in English creates opportunities for millions of people around the world through education, mobility and international engagement

Products for learners help learners of English improve their knowledge and command of the language, whatever their age, level of English or reason for learning.

Products for learners fall into these groups: Online learning: websites and Moodle courses: Mobile: Broadcast: radio, TV and print.

We are continuing to expand our web presence, engaging audiences with multimedia rich materials and web 2.0 technologies. The following are all available via the British Council Learn English website; courses for kids, teens, English courses for work, and pathways ( a series of eight self-study courses for adult learners of English organised across four levels (A1 to B2) of the Common European Framework).

Further information can be obtained via our website http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/word-street/northern-ireland

The online video promoting Northern Ireland as a study destination continues to be promoted internationally with sub-titles in Arabic, Mandarin, Portuguese and Spanish.

Other

The Northern Ireland office was successful in achieving the renewal of its Investors in People Award in early 2015 for a further 3 years. This is the highest accolade in people management and recongnises that the British Council Northern Ireland supports its staff in all aspects of their working practices including equality management.

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2 Please provide examples of outcomes and/or the impact of equality action plans/ measures in 2014-15 (or append the plan with progress/examples identified).

Please see British Council Northern Ireland Equality Scheme Action Plan in Appendix 1.

NOTE: THE BRITISH COUNCIL NORTHERN IRELAND IS PART OF A GLOBAL ORGANISATION. THROUGHOUT THE REMAINDER OF THE REPORT, WE REFER TO OUR GLOBAL EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION (EDI) POLICIES WHICH ARE ADHERED TO BY THE NORTHERN IRELAND OFFICE. SEVERAL OTHER SECTIONS OF THE REPORT ARE NORTHERN IRELAND SPECIFIC.

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3 Has the application of the Equality Scheme commitments resulted in any changes to policy, practice, procedures and/or service delivery areas during the 2014-15 reporting period? (tick one box only)

Yes No (go to Q.4) Not applicable (go to Q.4)

Please provide any details and examples:

ACTION POINT A) Make a leading contribution to international aspects of equality and diversity using a mainstreamed approach and collective effort.

Revised Global Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Strategy, November 2014 (Summary)

The British Council revised its EDI Strategy in November 2014. It can be downloaded from our EDI webpage: http://www.britishcouncil.org/organisation/how-we-work/equality-diversity-inclusion/about

There are 3 main strands informing our EDI Strategy – Business, Ethical and Legal, alongside a focus on 7 main (but not exclusive) areas – age, disability, ethnicity/race, gender, religion/belief, sexual orientation and work-life balance. Together they help us give due regard to key aspects of diversity and use our resources effectively.

Our ultimate goal is to be an organisation where everyone who comes into contact with us feels valued and where our programmes, services and general ways of working demonstrate our commitment to diversity.

The EDI strategy has three main objectives with action points provide the focus for the next phase of our work.

1) Developing capability and leaders.

2) Fostering inclusion

3) Performance, impact and legal compliance.

We believe in mainstreaming equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI). We have a variety of tools and processes that enable us to do this, as follows

a) COMMUNICATION & TRAINING

b) DIVERSITY ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK

c) EQUALITY MONITORING

d) NETWORKS

e) EQUALITY SCREENING & IMPACT ASSESSMENT

ACTION POINT B) Make progress towards equality targets identified by annual equality monitoring, namely in increasing the number of women, ethnic minority and disabled staff a senior management level and to increase the number of disabled participants to our programmes in general.

Recruitment teams have specifically addressed the issue of broadening access to those

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with disability by establishing contracts with specialist diversity recruiters (such as Employability, Equal Approach, Diversity Jobs) using accredited diverse talent specialists, working across a range of diverse strands including; Disability, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Race, Religion, Generational, Transgender, Obesity, Education, Class, Working Parents and Carers. This has broadened access not only to those with disability but groups across the range of protected characteristics. In line with the British Council EO&D strategy these efforts shall continue until targets have been met to address areas of under representation and remove any possible barriers to equality of opportunity. By respecting and valuing diversity we are more likely to attract talent and fresh perspectives, nurture creativity, innovation and flexibility and new opportunities and sources of support, so we remain relevant and dynamic and achieve greater reach and impact.

A document ‘Mainstreaming Disability and Accessibility Awareness into Event Management’ is circulated to all programme teams to support and facilitate participation of those with special needs in all British Council open programmes and events. An Accessibility Access form has been devised and circulated to all staff which contains important issues to consider to ensure support for participants with disabilities.

All participants and audiences at any British Council event are encouraged to declare their disability and specify any special requirements they have to ensure requirements are met and any reasonable adjustment made. We are also improving our processes to record and monitor annual data on reasonable adjustments requests.

The same principles apply with British Council recruitment processes ensuring reasonable adjustment is actioned for candidates with disability or special needs.

We display the ‘positive about disabled people’ logo on all recruitment advertisements and our web pages, offer a guaranteed interview to all disabled applicants meeting our recruitment criteria.

Regarding gender equality, we have developed mentoring programmes for women and have taken first steps towards more flexible deployment to help colleagues appointed locally to develop and progress into more senior roles (BC Corporate plan).

Regarding ethnic minorities, as the UK's leading international cultural relations organisation it is imperative that we have cultural diversity across our own leadership. The Diversity Unit is taking steps to try to further increase the number of ethnic monitority staff at senior management level. In summer 2014 the team carried out a Minority Ethnic research questionnaire to find out what practical steps could be taken to help unlock the untapped leadership ambitions of colleagues and where learning and development gaps could be filled. A large percentage of minority ethnic respondents said more practical hands-on support and leadership opportunities would be beneficial. As a result, we launched of a new set of masterclasses targeted at minority ethnic colleagues to encourage leadership skills.

The first masterclass was launched in London last year. The theme was ‘Finding your Voice’ in public speaking and presentation skills, which in an organisation like the British Council are among the most valuable skills that can really get you noticed. The response rate was high and colleagues who participated in the masterclass found it hugely useful.

These masterclasses enabled 'positive action' to be taken to support a group of people

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who have been shown to be underrepresented. The training was also attended by non-minority ethnic colleagues.

There are plans in place to roll out the masterclass model beyond the London office in 2015-16.

ACTION POINT C) Enhance our Equality Monitoring practices to ensure accuracy, completedness and compliance with legal requirements regarding retention of data.

Considerable efforts have been made to ensure that all staff take responsibility to complete/update their HR data using the new online system with specific reference to the new ethnicity categories to ensure that ethnicity data is updated. Further improvements are to be made to bring accuracy to the data which will facilitate more detailed analysis. We are doing research to establish the reason for some staff not declaring their ethnicity /disability and will take steps to improve this.

We are making efforts to ensure collation of equality monitoring data for the Management Board, Board of Trustee members and Advisory Committees, aiming for 100% records. A request for monitoring data from the Northern Ireland Advisory Committee was communicated in March 2015 - the response rate was 71% which builds on the 55% declaration rate achieved in the first exercise in 2013-14.

We are seeking to make improvements in the systems used to retain HR data records, particularly to satisfy our specific legal requirements for Northern Ireland regarding community background to ensure UK-wide compliance (minimum retention of 3 years) . We are also seeking to make improvements in the data retained for staff leaving the organisation.

3a With regard to the change(s) made to policies, practices or procedures and/or service delivery areas, what difference was made, or will be made, for individuals, i.e. the impact on those according to Section 75 category?


Equality Monitoring of UK appointed Staff

Efforts are continuing to drive equality targets in line with organisational needs, restructure and onging change. The data below outlines key targets set, timelines and progress to date. Particular focus lay on efforts to increase the percentage of women, staff from ethnic minority groups and those with disability at senior pay band levels.

In 2015, the 100% declaration rates for age and gender were maintained and there were increases in declaration rates for all the other areas of dependants, disability, ethnicity, religion or belief and sexual orientation. These declaration rates include a number of respondents who indicate they prefer not to say, which is an option offered. There has been some progress towards the gender and disability equality targets for 2016, however no progress towards the ethnicity target at senior level, and in fact the percentage of minority ethnic staff at that level has decreased.

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Table 1: Progress towards equality targets 2014 – 2016

Category At 31.3.14 At 31.3.15 2016 target

(PB10 +) Minority ethnic 3.3% 1.6% 13%

(PB10 +) Women 31.7% (19) 36% 40%

(PB10 +) Disabled 1.7% 3.1% 4%

Overall disabled staff 2.5% (33) 2.7% (33) 4%

Ethnicity

The percentage of minority ethnic staff (15.9%) has increased from 14.5% last year. Minority ethnic staff are relatively well represented overall compared to the economically active UK population (11.2%) and the Civil Service as a whole (10.1% ). As noted in previous reports, this is probably due to the fact that the two largest offices in the UK are in London and Manchester, cities with relatively high minority ethnic populations, particularly London.

Minority ethnic staff are a relatively large percentage at lower paybands and then decrease the higher the payband, with notably sharp decreases at the two senior levels, and particularly at the most senior level.

Gender

Women are 54% of the UK-contracted staff. This is about the same as the 53% female staff within the Civil Service and higher than the percentage of women in the UK economically active workforce (47%).

Female staff continue to be more highly represented in the lower paybands. They are over half of staff in the group up to payband 7. Their percentages decrease from payband 8 onwards. It is noted, however, that their percentage at the most senior level has increased from 31.7% last year to this year’s 35.9%.

Disability

The number of disabled staff has increased to 37, from 33 last year, and is now 2.7%. This remains persistently low compared to the disabled working age population (between 16% and 21%, depending on definition and source), and with the most recent data for overall Civil Service staff (8.8% disabled staff ). There are disabled staff at all paybands.

Age

There are staff across age groups from 21-25 up to 66+. This is a younger staff group than the Civil Service, where 70% of staff are aged 40 or above, compared to 54% of our staff in that broad age range. It is notable, however that this year (similar to last year) there are no staff below the age of 21. There is generally an age spread across the

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paybands although there are no staff aged 31-35 or below at the most senior level.

Religion or belief

The largest group of staff has no religion or belief (40%). This is followed by Christians (32%), and then smaller groups of Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Jewish and Sikh people. This is a somewhat different picture from the 2011 Census, where a higher percentage of people identified as Christian and a lower percentage of no religion/belief. Around 3.7% of staff state that they are of an ‘other religion’. These included: Agnostic; Atheist; Baha’i; Catholic, Roman Catholic, Church of England; Hindu and Protestant; Pagan; and some who believe in God but no specific religion or no specific categorisation. Although small numbers in some cases, there are staff of no religion or belief and of different religions at all paybands.

The Northern Ireland office had 56% of staff of Protestant and 31% of Roman Catholic community backgrounds. The rest were ‘non-determined’ or ‘neither Protestant nor Roman Catholic’.

Sexual orientation

There are 6.1% staff who are lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB). This is within the government estimated range of 5% - 7% in the total UK adult population. There are LGB staff across all paybands.

With and without dependants

The largest percentage have no dependants (49%). There are 32% who have childcare responsibilities and 3% who have eldercare responsibilities. A small percentage, 1.7%, have both childcare and eldercare responsibilities. Some staff, 1.7%, note that they have other dependant responsibilities. These include family member with learning difficulties; family member with an illness; carer for a spouse; partner; a child still at university; and pets. There are staff with and without dependant responsibilities across all paybands.

Reduced hours/part-time

The percentage of staff working reduced hours is 6.7%. This is lower than the almost 25% of Civil Service staff who work part-time. The majority of those working reduced hours are female (79%). The percentage of female staff working reduced hours is 9.8%, which is a reduction from about 11% last year, and the percentage of male staff has remained about as before, 3%. There are staff working reduced hours across all paybands.

Management Board

The Management Board of 19 staff were 63% male and 37% female, in every age group from 41-45 to 61-65, all full-time (11% on fixed term contracts), and 47% had dependants (childcare). None identified as disabled, minority ethnic, or LGB. Some members of the Management Board have not yet provided full data on the personnel

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system and so it is not possible to provide a complete profile.

Board of Trustees

There are 13 people on the Board of Trustees and 11 provided their equality data. The majority of Board members were white (62%, 73% of respondents); 23% were minority ethnic (27% of respondents); and none identified as disabled. The majority were male (62%, 73% of respondents) and 62% were aged 51-55 or above. The largest number were Christian, followed by those of no religion or belief and then smaller numbers who were Buddhist, Hindu and Jain. There were LGB and heterosexual members of the Board. The largest number (around 55%) were located in England, the majority in London.

Advisory Committees

There are three UK country Advisory Committees: for Northern Ireland (comprising 17 members), Scotland (7) and Wales (12). Members of the Committees were asked to complete equality monitoring questionnaires. The response rate overall was 81%, up from 55% last year. These were: from the Northern Ireland Committee (12 responses, 71%), Scotland Committee (6 responses, 86%) and Wales Committee (11 responses, 92%). Some (58% of the total, 72% of respondents) provided information about the city or county of their main location. The majority of those who provided this data were in the capital city (Belfast, Cardiff or Edinburgh); a small number were in other cities or areas.

Diversity Assessment Framework Results

We use our bespoke Diversity Assessment Framework (DAF), to measure our progress towards embedding equality and diversity into our work using ten significant indicators of performance. We revised these indicators in 2014 to ensure they measure ongoing rather than occasional activity and we moved from an annual to a biennial DAF submission. In 2014 our overall organisational DAF score was six out of ten. Over 30 per cent of submissions globally met or exceeded the organisational target of eight out of ten. The UK target for 2015-16 is eight out of ten.

The DAF showed ten per cent improvement in diversity leadership performance reported and results from our Staff Survey also confirm positive leadership engagement with diversity.

Organisational Impact

In line with good practice we use a mixture of evidence, from quantitative analysis, qualitative case studies and independently commissioned reports. At the top level we measure impact through the IPSOS/MORI Annual Impact Survey. We have established the following targets for 2014–15 and 2015–16 to measure impact, quality and diversity.

We measure impact through an annual survey of the most influential people who have taken part in our programmes and by external evaluations of the larger programmes

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which we run with, or on behalf of, others. Over the next two years of the plan the targets for our Annual Impact Survey are:

• Positive impact on participants’ professional lives: more than 90 per cent of participants agree.

• Positive impact on their organisation: more than 80 per cent of participants agree.

• Positive impact on strengthened links with the UK: more than 80 per cent of participants agree.

• Positive impact on their view of the UK’s contribution to their sector: more than 85 per cent of participants agree.

These targets are in line with, or above, the targets set for 2012–13. (BC Corporate Plan 2014-16)

3b What aspect of the Equality Scheme prompted or led to the change(s)? (tick all that apply)

As a result of the organisation’s screening of a policy (please give details):

See Q16-19

As a result of what was identified through the EQIA and consultation exercise (please give details):

See Q16-19

As a result of analysis from monitoring the impact (please give details):

See Q20-22

As a result of changes to access to information and services (please specify and give details):

See Q26

Other (please specify and give details):

Section 2: Progress on Equality Scheme commitments and action plans/measures

Arrangements for assessing compliance (Model Equality Scheme Chapter 2)

4 Were the Section 75 statutory duties integrated within job descriptions during the 2014-15 reporting period? (tick one box only)

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Yes, organisation wide

Yes, some departments/jobs

No, this is not an Equality Scheme commitment

No, this is scheduled for later in the Equality Scheme, or has already been done

Not applicable


The job descriptions and person specifications for advertised vacancies contain a statement of British Council Northern Ireland’s commitment to its equal opportunity and good relations obligations under Section 75.

The following text appears in the role profile of all advertised vacancies:-

OUR EQUALITY COMMITMENT:

Valuing diversity is essential to the British Council’s work. We aim to abide by and promote equality legislation by following both the letter and the spirit of it to try and avoid unjustified discrimination, recognising discrimination as a barrier to equality of opportunity, inclusion and human rights.

As an Equal Opportunities Employer, all job applicants are required to complete an Equal Opportunity and Diversity Monitoring Form. Provision of this information is voluntary and assists the British Council in its commitment to a policy of equal opportunity and the development of positive policies to promote equal opportunity in employment. The British Council welcomes applications from all sections of the community as we believe that a diverse workforce gives added depth to our work. We aim to ensure that no job applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the basis of gender including transgender, marital status or civil partnership, sexual identity, religion and belief, political opinion, race, colour, nationality or ethnic origin, work pattern, age, disability or HIV/AIDS status, socio-economic background, spent convictions, trade union activity or membership, on the basis of having or not having dependants, or any other irrelevant grounds.

The British Council monitors all stages of our recruitment and selection process to ensure there is no potential for unjustified discrimination on irrelevant grounds. Our monitoring data is externally analysed each year, and recommendations are published and acted upon. All information supplied is treated in strict confidence and no identifying details are attached to it. It helps us to monitor and evaluate the success and application of our equal opportunity policy and diversity strategy and to compile anonymised statistics which are included within our formal reporting structures.

A specific requirement relating to Community Background is requested within the Equal Opportunity and Diversity Monitoring Form for applicants applying for posts that have the potential to be based in the Northern Ireland office whereby applicants MUST declare their Community Background, regardless of which location they are applying from.

We monitor the Community Background of our job applicants and employees in order to

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demonstrate our commitment to promoting equality of opportunity in employment and to comply with our duties under the Fair Employment & Treatment (NI) Order 1998.

The British Council devised a new Core Skills dictionary during the reporting period (available from November 2014). The Core Skills dictionary sets out the skills which are required most often in roles throughout the British Council. They include a requirement for team leaders to coordinate a diverse team with awareness of equality and diversity impact as part of project specifications. The Dictionary also specifies that in all communications with internal and external audiences staff must demonstrate an awareness of a diverse audience in speaking and writing.

Likewise, our British Council behaviours were designed in consultation with staff and based on the attributes identified as essential to the Council’s ongoing success. The Behaviours are intended to be used as an integral part of all recruitment and selection across the British Council. There are 6 behaviours, each with three requirement levels used to iIdentify the degree of knowledge, skills and experience that is necessary to enable effective performance in the role. The 6 Behaviours are: Creating Shared Purpose, Connecting with Others, Working Together, Being Accountable, Making it Happen and Shaping the Future. Within the Connecting with Others Behaviour, applicants must demonstrate how they achieve understanding and trust in a culturally sensitive way, showing how they take steps to learn about other people, cultures and organisations and adjust their behaviour to respond to how other people think and behave in different cultures or environments.

All staff worldwide are required to ensure their behaviour is consistent with our policies.

5 Were the Section 75 statutory duties integrated within performance plans during the

2014-15 reporting period? (tick one box only)

Yes, organisation wide

Yes, some departments/jobs

No, this is not an Equality Scheme commitment

No, this is scheduled for later in the Equality Scheme, or has already been done

Not applicable


The British Council Behaviours (see Question 4) form a core part of the formal performance planning and evaluation cycle. Within the Connecting with Others Behaviour, applicants must demonstrate how they achieve understanding and trust in a culturally sensitive way, showing how they take steps to learn about other people, cultures and organisations and adjust their behaviour to respond to how other people think and behave in different cultures or environments.

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Staff are encouraged to dedicate a performance management deliverable to Equality Diversity and Inclusion and spend time thinking about what EDI means to them, their experiences and how they can improve their knowledge of EDI as well as how to put this into practice in the workplace. Staff are also encouraged to commit time to looking in detail on the intranet at our EO Policy, Diversity Strategy and the British Council’s approach to equality and diversity as well as discrimination legislation.

Marketing and Communications staff play a pivotal role in communicating our EDI commitment to our audiences by ensuring all images used in communications reflect diversity. They also must ensure access to our communications for disabled people and speakers of minority languages and implement changes to address inequalities.

Facilities staff must create the environment in which all customers and colleagues can feel safe and secure by ensuring all refurbishment projects incorporate communication of a clear message of inclusion and accessibility to a wide range of people, for example, disabled people and people with young children. In the Northern Ireland office, we took advice from Disability Action to support us in addressing access issues and ensuring personal evacuation plans are in place for anyone who might need additional support in the event of an emergency.

A member of the Northern Ireland staff is an active participant in our internal Disability Working Group. The group comprises of seven staff from across the UK who give 5% of their time to the group. They meet about six times a year and help us to take forward the disability related action points in our Integrated Equality Scheme and to generally keep disability on the corporate agenda.

Programme staff ensure that every participant attending our events feel welcomed and valued by checking all venues for accessibility issues. We also ensure that equality monitoring data (as a minimum in the areas of gender and age) for customers is carried out to identify under- and over-represented groups and results are discussed and acted upon in relation to the local context and local demographics. Programme staff also provide catering at all events that meets the diversity of participants.

Senior Managers' leadership role is critical to embedding our EDI principles by becoming involved in diversity initiatives and projects. They ensure that Equality Impact Assessments of key policies, programmes and services are carried out as required. Senior Managers ensure staff have EDI deliverables and undertake mandatory EDI training during the year. In general, senior managers champion EDI, promote the merits of a good work-life balance and initiate activities to back this up.

For all Northern Ireland staff, if they have a particular examples of how they have promoted equal opportunities and good relations in an aspect of their work, this is championed throughout the Northern Ireland office and fed to our UK Diversity Team.

6 In the 2014-15 reporting period were objectives/ targets/ performance measures relating to the Section 75 statutory duties integrated into corporate plans, strategic planning and/or operational business plans? (tick all that apply)

Yes, through the work to prepare or develop the new corporate plan

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Yes, through organisation wide annual business planning

Yes, in some departments/jobs

No, these are already mainstreamed through the organisation’s ongoing corporate plan

No, the organisation’s planning cycle does not coincide with this 2013-14 report

Not applicable


The British Council's five corporate values are at the heart of what we do and how we work. They are: Valuing People (specifically how we value diversity and respect), Integrity, Mutuality, Creativity and Professionalism.

The British Council's Corporate Plan (2014-16) outlines the organisation’s intention to continue to enable the people of the UK to share their culture and way of life with over 600 million people and partners throughout the world, through the programme areas of Arts, Education and Society, and English. Promoting equality of opportunity and good relations is integrated into this intention. We set diversity targets in our Corporate Plan through the Diversity Assessment Framework (DAF). The target for 2015-16 is eight out of ten (an increase from our current score of six out of ten).

We have developed mentoring programmes for women and have taken first steps towards more flexible deployment to help colleagues appointed locally to develop and progress into more senior roles (Source: Corporate Plan 2014-16).

We plan to adopt more flexible deployment to broaden opportunities for locally appointed staff and maximise the diversity of our workforce. This includes an intention to transition all staff at senior management level to a single SMT payband. The reason for this is to give greater flexibility to redeploy senior management staff at any time across all geographical locations without the barrier of grade and payband.

EDI is also mainstreamed into our Northern Ireland Country Plan. The Annual Corporate Plan outlines targets, successes to date and proposed outcomes against targets. Part of the remit to ‘inspire, educate and teach is to be achieved by;-

• Continuing to develop the professional expertise of our staff across all areas

• Investing to develop our staff and attract talented new people to work with us globally.

• Continuing to be a diverse organisation that strives to reflect our society today – is skilled in engaging with different cultures and follows best practice in equal opportunities and diversity

• Upholding the British Council values of valuing people, integrity, mutuality, creativity and professionalism.

We contribute to the UK government’s commitment to international development support for stability, economic development, reduced inequalities and good governance in developing, fragile and conflict-affected countries around the world, including those

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vital to the UK’s strategic interests. Our work will continue to align with the emerging post 2015 Development Agenda, in particular around poverty eradication, quality education, gender equality and sustainable development.

We are aware that globalisation is now affecting every part of the UK touching the lives of citizens, changing communities and shaping our economic futures. At the same time, the UK context is changing, with an increasing focus on the diversity of the UK and embracing the cultural strengths and involving people from across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, their regions and major cities. In order to make the greatest impact, we plan to tailor our programmes to contribute to to the policy objectives of the UK as a whole and to meet the priorities of the four nations of the UK. We value the opportunity to make greater use of the diversity of the contemporary UK as an asset in itself.

In arts we plan to promote and scale up our innovative digital offer including the continued development of unique digital projects using our disability arts and diversity expertise.

Equality action plans/measures

7 Within the 2014-15 reporting period, please indicate the number of:

Actions completed: Actions ongoing: 4 Actions to

commence: 2

Please provide any details and examples (in addition to question 2):

1) Monitor data and data accuracy across all protected characteristics for all levels of staff within the organisation

Considerable steps have been taken to encourage staff to complete their personal data on the online HR system. Improvements are planned to the system as a whole for assessing equality monitoring data for staff across all job bands. Some progress has been achieved here, but this is ongoing to ensure that equality monitoring data is appropriately collected, kept up to date with as much consistency as possible, held as confidential sensitive data, and easily retrieved in a format for reporting purposes.

2) Continue communication with IT and recruitment team colleagues to improve system for assessing external and internal job applicant data – to obtain data for full analysis and inclusion in monitoring reports

We have been working closely with our central HR department to specify our specific monitoring requirements for Northern Ireland. There is some progress but still some work to do in this area.

3) Improve communication on EDI updates, news and best practice to all British Council staff groups

The recruitment of a dedicated Equality Manager in the Northern Ireland office has

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improved communications with staff to increase awareness of EDI issues. Staff are kept up to date with important EDI issues on an ongoing basis. Colleagues subscribing to the global diversity mailbase are kept informed of ongoing issues and there have been Staff Bulletin notices and global staff talks around International Women’s Day, International Day of Disabled People, Black History Month, International Day of Older People, etc. Further communication and training schedules are planned for the future.

4) Record and monitor annual data on number of reasonable adjustment requests actioned (internally and externally).

We have designed an Access Sheet for use when planning events. There is a template form attached to our Global Reasonable Adjustments Policy and a good practice form linked to our Disability Assessment Framework that is used in various offices to record reasonable adjustments requests. A formalised approach for the NI office will be rolled out in 2016 as a means of increasing participation for those with disability.

5) Monitoring of percentage levels of those from the protected characteristics groups taking active part in all programmes and activities offered by the British Council

A monitoring questionnaire has been designed and circulated to all external customers and beneficiaries. This will enable us to gain evidence of affirmative action which is needed to support greater participation in programmes and activities across all the protected charascteristic groups.

6) Action to help make progress towards the minority ethnic and disability targets as well as the number of women in senior management positions.

We have developed mentoring programmes for women and have taken first steps towards more flexible deployment to help colleagues appointed locally to develop and progress into more senior roles (Source: Corporate Plan 2014-16).


As a means of increasing the number of disabled staff across the organisation, recruitment teams have specifically addressed the issue of broadening access to those with disability by establishing contracts with specialist diversity recruiters (such as Employability, Equal Approach, Diversity Jobs) using accredited diverse talent specialists, working across a range of diverse strands including; Disability, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Race, Religion, Generational, Transgender, Obesity, Education, Class, Working Parents and Carers. This has broadened access not only to those with disability but groups across the range of protected characteristics. In line with the British Council EO&D strategy these efforts shall continue until targets have been met to address areas of under representation and remove any possible barriers to equality of opportunity. By respecting and valuing diversity we are more likely to attract talent and

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fresh perspectives, nurture creativity, innovation and flexibility and new opportunities and sources of support, so we remain relevant and dynamic and achieve greater reach and impact.

All staff are encouraged to declare their disability on the online HR portal and as a result there has been an increase in the response rate.

When advertising for vacancies, British Council recruitment processes ensure reasonable adjustment is actioned for candidates with disability or special needs. We also display the ‘positive about disabled people’ logo on all recruitment advertisements and our web pages, and offer a guaranteed interview to all disabled applicants meeting our recruitment criteria.

Across the organisation, although there have been increases in progress towards the disability and gender targets there has been little progress towards the ethnicity targets. despite concerted efforts. Research was conducted that led to focus groups and then a series of ‘master-classes’ targeted at minority ethnic colleagues with an aim to increase professional confidence. Across the gloibal network, there are plans in place to roll out the minority ethnic masterclass model beyond the London office in 2015-16.

Within the Northern Ireland office specifically, we seek ways to increase the percentage of ethnic minority staff which is currently low (although this most likely reflect the low percentage in the local population) but this is a group which we could target when recruiting.

The age profile of staff will continue to be regularly monitored to ensure there are no barriers to staff in the 51+ age group. We also will consider opportunities for disabled people to work for the British Council Northern Ireland for example through work experience or internship programmes.

8 Please give details of changes or amendments made to the equality action plan/measures during the 2014-15 reporting period (points not identified in an appended plan):

No amendments made.

9 In reviewing progress on the equality action plan/action measures during the 2014-15 reporting period, the following have been identified: (tick all that apply)

Continuing action(s), to progress the next stage addressing the known inequality

Action(s) to address the known inequality in a different way

Action(s) to address newly identified inequalities/recently prioritised inequalities

Measures to address a prioritised inequality have been completed

Arrangements for consulting (Model Equality Scheme Chapter 3)

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10 Following the initial notification of consultations, a targeted approach was taken – and consultation with those for whom the issue was of particular relevance: (tick one box only)

All the time Sometimes Never

11 Please provide any details and examples of good practice in consultation during the 2014-15 reporting period, on matters relevant (e.g. the development of a policy that has been screened in) to the need to promote equality of opportunity and/or the desirability of promoting good relations:

In accordance with the commitments made in our Equality Scheme we recognise the importance of consultation in all aspects of the implementation of our statutory equality duties. We consult as a matter of form on our equality scheme, equality impact assessments action measures and any other matters deemed relevant to Section 75 Statutory duties.

We carry out our consultation in accordance with the principles contained in the Equality Commissions’ guidance Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 – A Guide for Pubic Authorities (2010). All consultations will seek the views of those directly affected by the matter/policy, the Equality Commission, representative groups of Section 75 categories, other public authorities, voluntary and community groups, our staff and such other groups who have a legitimate interest in the matter, whether or not they have a direct economic or personal interest. We consider the accessibility and format of consultation we use in order to remove barriers to the consultation process.

Specific consideration is given to how best to communicate with people with disabilities, including people with learning disabilities and minority ethnic communities. Information is made available, on request, in alternative formats , in a timely manner. We ensure that such consultees have equal time to respond.

We provide feedback to consultees in a timely manner. A feedback report is prepared which includes summary information on the policy consulted upon, a summary of consultees’ comments and a summary of our consideration of and response to consultees’ input. The feedback is provided in formats suitable to consultees.

Internally, a new initiative was rolled out in 2014 where HR visited each region and conducted climate surveys on staff ‘wellbeing’. This provided a forum for staff to meet face-to-face with a HR colleague, share viewpoints and outline what ‘wellbeing’ in its broadest context meant to them as a British Council employee. Follow up communication was circulated to staff outlining next steps and action measures.

Externally, feedback is sought from service users on all our programmes many of which are schools or college programs. The views of participants (children, teenagers and young adults) are taken into consideration directly and indirectly via teachers and program directors and help shape development and direction of future programmes and services.

The British Council Northern Ireland offers a number of internships each year to enable a group of interns to see and experience the work of the British Council at first hand and champion the value of cultural relations.

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The objectives of the internship scheme is as follows:

• To offer structured work experience placements within a specific business area to a group of interns

• To give a real introduction to the field of cultural relations to a group of interns

• To enable British Council departments to get support and benefit from a different perspective on their work

As part of the Internship programme, interns attend a three day corporate induction before joining a specific department for twelve weeks. They have a line manager and are set specific deliverables during their stay. In addition, they also undertake a group project which they present to staff and stakeholders at the end of the programme.

Work experience programmes are also managed for approximately ten school students a year and approximately five for higher education students. This scheme is co-ordinated by a local manager affording students the opportunity to gain insights into the broad remit of learning and development opportunities available according to their interests.

12 In the 2014-15 reporting period, given the consultation methods offered, which consultation methods were most frequently used by consultees: (tick all that apply)

Face to face meetings

Focus groups

Written documents with the opportunity to comment in writing

Questionnaires

Information/notification by email with an opportunity to opt in/out of the consultation

Internet discussions

Telephone consultations

Other (please specify):

Please provide any details or examples of the uptake of these methods of consultation in relation to the consultees’ membership of particular Section 75 categories:

We have an extensive list of consultees from across a wide range of organisations across all the Section 75 groups. See Appendix 2 for full list.

We ensure accessibility of all documentation by making all documents available in alternative formats on request. All documentation is also accessible on our website.

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13 Were any awareness-raising activities for consultees undertaken, on the commitments in the Equality Scheme, during the 2014-15 reporting period? (tick one box only)

Yes No Not applicable


We informed the general public about the availability of this material through press releases where appropriate.

14 Was the consultation list reviewed during the 2014-15 reporting period? (tick one box only)

Yes No Not applicable – no commitment to review

Arrangements for assessing and consulting on the likely impact of policies (Model Equality Scheme Chapter 4)

[http://nireland.britishcouncil.org/about/equal-opportunities-diversity ]

15

Please provide the number of policies screened during the year (as recorded in screening reports):

3

16 Please provide the number of assessments that were consulted upon during 2014-15:

3 Policy consultations conducted with screening assessment presented.

0 Policy consultations conducted with an equality impact assessment (EQIA) presented.

Consultations for an EQIA alone.

17 Please provide details of the main consultations conducted on an assessment (as described above) or other matters relevant to the Section 75 duties:

Consistent with the British Council Diversity Strategy and good practice, whenever a new policy is considered, revised or a new way of working is introduced an equality screening is undertaken to decide if an equality impact assessment (EIA) is required. Doing so enables us to measure the potential impact of these changes on different groups and helps minimize any negative impact of our decisions and ways of working. Equally when we plan programmes, projects or events the EDI guide to mainstreaming is embedded

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into the process. Such initiatives also helps improve equality of opportunity and foster inclusions across all groups.

All schemes and changes to any schemes or programmes are published on our intranet following approval by the EO&D team. Below are examples of schemes recently approved.

- Single Leadership Broad band

- Business Skills Dictionary

- Phase 1 Implementation of Global Information Services Operating Model

Changes to any policies or procedures take into consideration promotion of equality and inclusion with particular consideration of those with any form of disability encouraging their participation in all British Council activities. Reasonable adjustments are made where necessary and appropriate. Consideration is also made for those from different ethnic backgrounds, realising not all are from majority ethnic backgrounds ensuring inclusion for all; we consider those with and without dependents; we consider the impact on those with varying sexual orientation to ensure they are not directly or indirectly discriminated against by the way the proposal is written or implemented.

Details of all EQIAs can be made available upon request and information on Northern Ireland specific schemes can be found on our website www.britishcouncil.org/northernireland

18 Were any screening decisions (or equivalent initial assessments of relevance) reviewed following concerns raised by consultees? (tick one box only)

Yes No concerns were raised

No Not applicable


No specific comments were raised by consultees.

Arrangements for publishing the results of assessments (Model Equality Scheme Chapter 4)

19 Following decisions on a policy, were the results of any EQIAs published during the 2014-15 reporting period? (tick one box only)



Three assessments were carried out during 2014-15 reporting year.

- Single Leadership Broad band

- Business Skills Dictionary

- Phase 1 Implementation of Global Information Services Operating Model

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These relate to policies which are of relevance to our office but none of the key issues identified were considered to have a major negative impact on any of the Section 75 groups in Northern Ireland.

A summary of these assessments and their results were sent to our consultee list and published on our website. These were as follows:

• Single Leadership Broad Band – there is an intention to transition all staff at senior management level to a single SMT payband. The reason for this is to give greater flexibility to redeploy senior management staff at any time across all geographical locations without the barrier of grade and payband. The ESIA found potential negative impact around dependant responsibilities, disability, gender and flexible working and there were issues arising around equal pay.

Are a large number of people affected? YES

Are a small number of people who are particularly under-represented, or disadvantaged, or excluded affected? YES

Does the proposed policy/function/practice represent a significant change to current practice? YES

Might the proposal benefit people within any of the groups identified above? YES

Might the proposal disadvantage people within any of the groups identified above? NO

• Core Skills dictionary – a Core Skills Dictionary is currently being devised (to replace the Generic Skills Dictionary) in an attempt to bring more consistency and simplicity to recruitment. Mandatory use of the Business Skills Dictionary would ensure that role profiles have a consistent, clear and accurate description of skills needed for a role. The document details how the generic skills are no longer fit for purpose due to organisational changes and that the Business Skills Dictionary would not only include skills required now, but also skills for the future. 11 Business Skills have been drafted. The ESIA found potential negative impact around age, disability, ethnicity and gender.





Might the proposal disadvantage people within any of the groups identified above? NO

• Phase 1 implementation of the Global Information Services Operating Model – this assessment dealt with proposed changes to the operating model for GIS with a specific review of leadership required and technology sourcing solutions. The ESIA found potential negative impact around age, dependent responsibilities, disability, ethnicity and

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gender.





Might the proposal disadvantage people within any of the groups identified above? YES

Details of all EQIAs and their results can be found on our website: www.britishcouncil.org/northernireland

Arrangements for monitoring and publishing the results of monitoring (Model Equality Scheme Chapter 4)

20 From the Equality Scheme monitoring arrangements, was there an audit of existing information systems during the 2014-15 reporting period? (tick one box only)

Yes No, already taken place

No, scheduled to take place at a later date

Not applicable

Please provide any details:

We monitor our progress on the delivery of our action measures annually and update the action plan as necessary to ensure that it remains effective and relevant to our functions, internal processes, staff and customers. In 2014 we undertook an audit of inequalities which the Equality Commission for NI’s Guide for Public Authorities (2010) describes an audit of inequalities as a ‘systematic review and analysis of inequalities which exist for service users and those affected by a public authority’s policies.’ It can be used by a public authority to inform its work in relation to the promotion of the Section 75 equality and good relations duties. It can also enable public authorities to assess progress on the implementation of the Section 75 statutory duties, as it should provide baseline information on existing inequalities relevant to a public authority’s functions. In complying with our duties we have undertaken a systematic audit of inequalities and used this as a basis to develop actions measures / plans to address inequalities thus supporting decision making and prioritising particular actions.

We have gathered information as an evidence base to inform our audit. This involved the collation and analysis of existing quantitative and qualitative data using internal and external sources, disaggregated by the Section 75 equality categories, to develop indicators of levels of inequalities. Indicators are utilised to inform the setting of measures to promote equality of opportunity and good relations to achieve equality and

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good relations outcomes for those equality groups where inequalities have been identified. Our audit of inequalities entails an analysis of information gathered to inform the development of action plans.

The scale and size of the audit of inequalities is also proportionate to the size and relative functions of British Council Northern Ireland as a public authority. The audit of inequalities will be reviewed annually and the action plan/measures updated accordingly. The plan is flexible, adaptable and responsive to changing circumstances and needs. It is a developing process and will focus on ensuring that action measures are reviewed and updated on an ongoing basis.

The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland identified six broad areas of inequality which it believed needs to be addressed if we are to progress towards realising equality of opportunity in Northern Ireland Society. Of the six areas identified the British Council can and have influence in three areas specifically– education under-achievement; participation in public life; and the impact of prejudice.

21 In analysing monitoring information gathered, was any action taken to change/review any policies? (tick one box only)



The audit of inequalities and draft action plan have been developed to reflect the function and scale of British Council Northern Ireland having looked at existing practice. This meant identifying evidence relevant to the work of the British Council Northern Ireland identifying any key inequalities, and considering how our work might improve the outcomes in those areas of inequalities that had been identified.

As recommended by the Equality Commission Northern Ireland the identification of key inequalities was achieved by using a range of both qualitative and quantitative data sources including: available research data; surveys; monitoring information; Equality Impact Assessments; consultation reports; and reviews and discussions with focus groups

An examination was undertaken of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion as it applies in accordance with the British Council EDI strategy generally.

British Council shares a vision to use our increasing knowledge and experience to make a leading contribution to international aspects of equality and diversity. Teams work energetically toward this by a mainstreaming approach, highlighting what our collective efforts can achieve for individuals, communities, organisations and nations. Our emphasis lies on the potential of equality and diversity to help create more inclusive societies. We believe these contribute to greater trust, security and stability in the world where shared aspirations can flourish.

The diverse contributions and considerable talents of our staff and those we work with worldwide will be harnessed to provide the very best practices and services we can, in line with our organisational values and human rights’ principles. In bringing people together to learn, create and work to build long term relationships of trust for the British Council, we

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increasingly recognise the role that valuing diversity and co-operative ways of living, working and engaging play in achieving stability and security.

We’ve learnt that people’s expectations and aspirations are changing. They are far more networked and interconnected. There is increased inter-cultural interaction and cultural proximity. Some are at ease with multiple identities; for others the benefits are seemingly offset by perceived (or created) threats to traditional and local cultures, inter-communal suspicion and cultural, social, national and international insecurity. Concerns and confusion arise about a loss of identity. This has reinforced the importance of an overt commitment and strategic approach to managing diversity.

A key element of the audit was evidence-based research with the collation and analysis of existing information. This was categorised into Section 75 categories which was used to develop indicators for levels of inequalities.

With regard to internal analysis, one element of the evidence based approach is the identification of data gaps. Project teams were asked to investigate and consider gaps in the data which had become evident through the project research and equality screening and impact assessment exercises. Therefore we will continue to monitor data and data accuracy across all protected characteristics for all levels of staff within the organisation

We will continue communication with IT and recruitment team colleagues to improve system for assessing external and internal job applicant data – to obtain data for full analysis and inclusion in monitoring reports.

We will seek to improve communication on EDI updates, news and best practice to all British Council staff groups and record and monitor annual data on number of reasonable adjustment requests actioned (internally and externally).

We need to more accurately monitor the percentage levels of those from the protected characteristics groups taking active part in all programmes and activities offered by the British Council and take action to help make progress towards the minority ethnic and disability targets.

22 Please provide any details or examples of where the monitoring of policies, during the 2014-15 reporting period, has shown changes to differential/adverse impacts previously assessed:

It has become evident that there are significant gaps in the availability of monitoring data both internally and externally. In 2015-16 we plan to conduct a formal audit of equality in relation to our beneficiaries through the use of a Monitoring Questionnaire based around the nine Section 75 groups. Once the results are collated and analysed we will identify under-represented groups or potential inequality and target these using appropriate means. If opportunities arise which would allow for greater equality of opportunity to be promoted, we will ensure that our policies are revised to achieve better outcomes for relevant equality groups. Internally we will work closely with the central HR teams to improve accuracy and availaibility of staff monitoring data.

23 Please provide any details or examples of monitoring that has contributed to the

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availability of equality and good relations information/data for service delivery planning or policy development:

Staff monitoring data (eg numbers of ethnic minority and disabled staff) has contributed to developments in our training and recruitment policies as a means of increasing these levels both within senior management and across the organisation generally. See Question 29 for action.

The action plan has been revised and updated for 2015-16.

Staff Training (Model Equality Scheme Chapter 5)

24 Please report on the activities from the training plan/programme (section 5.4 of the Model Equality Scheme) undertaken during 2014-15, and the extent to which they met the training objectives in the Equality Scheme.

In 2014-5 we introduced a communication and training programme for all staff and continued to ensure that our commitment to the Section 75 statutory duties was made clear in all relevant publications.

We ensured that staff were informed of interesting and relevant stories or case study examples of particular issues affecting people across the range of Section 75 categories, to ensure that our staff fully understand their role in implementing the scheme.

Our training plan for staff achieved the following objectives:

• raised awareness of the provisions of Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, our equality scheme commitments and the particular issues likely to affect people across the range of Section 75 categories, to ensure that our staff fully understand their role in implementing the scheme

• provided those staff involved in the assessment of policies (screening and Equality Impact Assessment) with the necessary skills and knowledge to do this work effectively

• provided those staff who deal with complaints in relation to compliance with our equality scheme with the necessary skills and knowledge to investigate and monitor complaints effectively

• provided those staff involved in consultation processes with the necessary skills and knowledge to do this work effectively

• provided those staff involved in the implementation and monitoring of the British Council Northern Ireland’s equality scheme with the necessary skills and knowledge to do this work effectively.

All British Council Northern Ireland staff and the Northern Ireland Advisory Committee have a copy of the Equality Scheme and were invited to comment on it. All new staff- both permanent and temporary has received comprehensive induction training which included explanation of duties/responsibilities as they apply under Section 75.

A document ‘Mainstreaming Disability and Accessibility Awareness into Event

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Management’ is circulated to all programme teams to support and facilitate participation of those with special needs in all British Council open programmes and events.

An Accessibility Access form has been devised and circulated to all staff which contains important issues to consider to ensure support for participants with disabilities. All venues for British Council events are checked for accessibility and related services. The British Council policy clearly mandates they will react to specific needs which includes those requiring or requesting Personal Readers, Infa red or induction loops, Guiders, Braille, Lip Speakers, Temporary wheelchair access lifts, and Sign Language Interpreters.

Additionally there is an anticipatory duty across the following categories: Mobility, Hearing impairment, Visual impairment, Learning disabilities and difficulties, mental health and severe disfigurement. Consideration is made for religious or cultural request such as the availability of rooms for prayer and special dietary needs.

This year we replaced the term Equal Opporunities and Diversity (EOD) with Equality Diversity and inclusion (EDI). We wanted to create a shift from a restrictive perception of equality of opportunity to one concerned with fairness and appropriate and legitimate differentiation. This will be reflected in our new corporate Equality Policy whilst our Strategy will become our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy and these were made available to all staff at the end of 2014.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training is incorporated into local Induction Training programmes which covers all legal requirements under the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and Section 75 statutory duties.

Further EDI is an inherent component of regular British Council online training which is a mandatory requirement and all staff must complete on an annual basis.

In 2014 the Head of EDI delivered updated training to all staff in the Northern Ireland British Council office and delivered a briefing on the UK Equality and Diversity strategy plus overview and guidance on Diversity Assessment Frameworks for 2014-16.

The Diversity Unit has created a document which includes tips to help anyone that designs or modifies websites to have web accessibility in mind. When designing a website it is important to realise how people with disabilities use the Web, what difficulties they may face and how to assist them in overcoming those difficulties. A training webinar dedicated to this topic took place in December 2014 for all staff.

In an attempt to raise office awareness of Diversity, we marked and celebrated some key international diversity days throughout the year and organised regional diversity weeks across our global network that have helped staff and external audiences engage with diversity issues in a new way. These included: - International Womens' Day (13 3.15) - we took the opportunity to highlight that we have still some work to do to address the inequality of women in senior management positions in the organisation. Women account for 60 percent of all British Council employees, but only a little over 30 percent are in most senior positions. As an organisation, we are fundamentally committed to equal opportunities but more than two fifths of British Council colleagues feel that women are not treated equally in the British Council. - Two areas highlighted during UK Disability Month in November 2014 were typeface and

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digital access. Staff are asked to ensure that the typeface they are currently using is accessible to those who are visually impaired. Guidance for staff is available on the Brand Guidelines intranet portal.

Also, as the British Council offer so many courses and programmes via web links, they are constantly growing and being updated. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is available for those designing a website which outlined advice on making the site more easily accessible to older people. Included also is a template for accessibility evaluation reports to assess if needs are being met.

We have produced a document with information for Intranet users who are visually impaired and/or who would prefer to change the appearance of the intranet pages to make them more accessible. The Northern Ireland office in Belfast also moved from Obtree content management system to Solas providing enhanced accessibility.

The Northern Ireland office recruited a dedicated Equality Manager in 2014 who will be specifically responsible for ensuring that staff are aware of their obligations in meeting the requirements of/developments within Section 75 and the commitments of our equality scheme. The Equality Manager will be our direct link to other parts of the UK to ensure that our legislative requirements specific to Northern Ireland are incorporated into all policies and processes.

As a means of raising awareness of LGBT issues the British Council created the Five Films For Freedom Campaign. This was the world’s first global, digital Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) film festival initiated by the British Council and the British Film Institute and ran between 19 and 29 March 2015. The campaign sought to promote freedom, equality and LGBT rights in 135 countries across the social media network.

Total social media reach comprised over 75 million estimated impressions across Facebook, Twitter and Sina Weibo. Almost 5 million unique web impressions for the campaign were driven by British Council and our partner Psiphon. The highest number of viewers (over 40%) on BFI Player were from the UK. In the Northern Ireland office, the five films ran on a loop throughout the day in our conference rooms and staff were invited to view the films at their convenience.

We will run a second fiveFilms in 2016 and we want to find or commission more international films for 2016 and are raising funds to do this.

On a global scale, The British Council has developed a programme for teachers of people with special educational needs and this year we are equipping our own staff to specialise in this area through targetted training programmes.

Our Global Diversity Network is made up of two or more representatives from each region, who work with the Diversity Unit in a formalised way. They support their management teams in each region to mainstream equality and diversity in all our practices. They have expertise and understanding of the different cultures and contexts in which they work, so they can ensure our corporate diversity initiatives are meaningful and relevant and can be applied in each region. The GDN share ideas and good practice using a GDN mailbase. This is a mailing list that all staff interested in finding out more about equality and diversity can subscribe to. It is a place for sharing good practice, asking for advice from other colleagues and joining in debates and discussions about topical issues related to global equality and diversity so that we can all learn from each other around

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equality and diversity.

25 Please provide any examples of relevant training shown to have worked well, in that participants have achieved the necessary skills and knowledge to achieve the stated objectives:

Feedback from staff showed that the online mandatory Equal Opportunities and Diversity training is clear and informative. The delivery of training by members of the Diversity Unit in early 2014 was extremely well received and is something that we will repeat in 2015-16 and we are hoping that the Equality Commission will help us run Section 75 specific training for staff in 2015-16.

Public Access to Information and Services (Model Equality Scheme Chapter 6)

26 Please list any examples of where monitoring during 2014-15, across all functions, has resulted in action and improvement in relation to access to information and services:

The Communications team on an ongoing basis priortise links to specific platforms to meet identified demand thus increasing accessibility to relevant programmes and information eg a ‘Fronter room’ link existed for the C2K teachers online platform to ensure relevant British Council programme information is more easily accessible to all primary and secondary teachers across Northern Ireland.

An alerts communication is emailed to schools outlining upcoming events or programme opportunities, thus capturing a broader audience and increasing participation levels

We measure how people view the quality of our work in three main ways:

• Scores from a customer satisfaction survey distributed both at face-to-face events and online.

• Responses to a question asked mainly of teaching centre students and examinations candidates to find out the extent to which they feel they have acquired new knowledge or skills

• A net recommendation score, which is a measure of the willingness of participants to recommend others to work with us or use our services. The net percentage is calculated from advocates minus detractors, in line with standard international practice.

This year we had feedback on levels of satisfaction from nearly 250,000 people involved in a wide range of our progammes. Our customer satisfaction score in 2014-15 increased from 82 to 83, meaning that the significant majority of our customers fall within the range where they agree or strongly agree that our programmes are of high quality. The net recommendation score of customers who would recommend the British Council increased from 52 to 54 (threshold -100 to +100) which compares well with external benchmarks (http://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/britishcouncil.uk2/files/d554_annual_report_final.pdf).

While programmes are open to all sections of the community, the uptake and participation rates are monitored to determine if positive action can be taken to increase participation amongst those from disadvantaged areas or those from minority groups.

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We plan to formalise this process in more detail in 2015-16 (see Question 29).

In 2014 we developed a new British Council Northern Ireland website using the Solas platform (formerly Obtree). The new site addresses accessibility issues in the following ways:

- Easier to navigate -all navigation elements have clickable links, the website is consistent, categories are divided clearly and accurate navigation titles are used

- Simpler - the layout is cleaner and easier to navigate than the previous system

- Easier to read - the new website uses larger font and simpler colours than the previous system and doesn’t rely on colour to convoy information eg text is all in black to help colour blind readers.

- Streamlined- the new website is now more simplified than the previous system giving people the basic information they need and directing them on to other websites if needed

- Mobile friendly - the new website can now be accessed by phone

- Increased presence - the content is now directly linked to social media

- Clear language and structure – the new website avoids the use of ‘Click Here’ or vague link names

Complaints (Model Equality Scheme Chapter 8)

27 How many complaints in relation to the Equality Scheme have been received during 2014-15?

Insert number here: 0

Please provide any details of each complaint raised and outcome:

No complaints were raised this year.

There is a robust Comments, Complaints and Appeals Policy in place with a commitment to treat all issues or complaints fairly, impartially and confidentially. Any complaints or issues raised by progamme users, members of the public, staff, or service providers are logged, actioned and detailed. Product Delivery Teams are trained in the process and details are monitored via the Customer Services web system.

Section 3: Looking Forward

28 Please indicate when the Equality Scheme is due for review:

December 2019

29 Are there areas of the Equality Scheme arrangements (screening/consultation/training) your organisation anticipates will be focused upon in the next reporting period? (please provide

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details)

MONITORING

1) In 2015-16 we will focus on customer monitoring and plan to conduct a formal equality audit of our beneficiaries through the use of a Monitoring Questionnaire based around the nine Section 75 groups. This will allow us to gain a better insight into what groups taking active part in all programmes and activities offered by the British Council. Once the results are collated and analysied we will identify under-represented groups or potential inequality and target these using approapriate means. If opportunities arise which would allow for greater equality of opportunity to be promoted, we will ensure that our policies are revised to achieve better outcomes for relevant equality groups.

2) Internally, UK wide we are making efforts to reach a target of 100% response rate on online HR portal for staff as well as Northern Ireland Advisory Committee (NIAC) and Board of Trustees to record their personal monitoring data. The response rate in 2014-15 was 71%.

3) We will look to find ways to better collate and store confidential monitoring data for existing staff as well as internal and external job applicants, promotees and leavers through central HR. This information should be readily available at all times for reporting purposes.

4) We will seek to find ways to further increase the underepresented groups in senior management (women, ethnic minorities and disabled staff). We will establish contacts with specialist diversity recruiters in Northern Ireland using accredited diverse talent specialists, working across a range of diverse strands including; Disability, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Race, Religion, Generational, Transgender, Obesity, Education, Class, Working Parents and Carers. This will broaden access not only to those with disability but groups across the range of protected characteristics. The Disability Advisory Forum offers a recruitment audit service that will assess the accessibility recruitment processes and procedures offering support and guidance where needs have been identified. This is also an avenue which should be further explored and disseminated to staff.

We have developed mentoring programmes for women and have taken first steps towards more flexible deployment to help colleagues appointed locally to develop and progress into more senior roles. (Source: Corporate Plan 2014-16).


Within the Northern Ireland office specifically, we will seek ways to increase the percentage of ethnic minority staff which is currently low (although this most likely reflect the low percentage in the local population) but this is a group which we could target when recruiting. The age profile of staff should continue to be regularly monitored and ensuring there are no barriers to staff in the 51+ age group. We also will consider opportunities for disabled people to work for the British Council Northern Ireland for example through work experience or internship programmes. Across the gloibal network, there are plans in place to roll out the minority ethnic masterclass model beyond the London office in 2015-16.

6) We will record and monitor annual data on number of reasonable adjustment requests

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actioned (internally and externally) and in 2015 will look to find the most efficient way of achieving this. We will also asess the effectiveness of reasonable adjustments made using a formalised approach.

7) We will seek better ways to monitor complaints from Section 75 groups though these are currently low.

DIVERSITY STRATEGY

1) We will focus our efforts on increasing the Diversity Assessment Framework score target from 6 out of 10 indicators to 8 out of 10. The next deadline for submissions is February 2016.

2) We will make improvements to the building signage on the ground floor of Northern Ireland office.

3) In British Council Northern Ireland we plan to support the British Council global society agenda work by identifying opportunites from the Northern Ireland equality sector expertise and knowledge which could be of interest to an international audience.

4) The British Council Diversity Award 2015 was launched in early 2015 and all applications will be submitted by 31 May 2015. The award aims to showcase, recognise and celebrate some of the outstanding contributions made by colleagues that help to strengthen cultural relations by progressing our Diversity Strategy. It also aims to raise awareness of what excellence looks like and hopefully help to inspire additional contributions and achievements in support of cultural relations.

There are two categories for the pilot year 2015:

• Making a leadership contribution to Diversity

• Innovation in Diversity

The broad criteria will enable colleagues to submit work and activity which really highlights the variety and breadth of work taking place in EDI around the organisation. Specifically, staff are encouraged to highlight notable successes working with partner organisations around EDI, exceptional stories/case studies or general programmes and projects with an EDI focus.

The winning colleague(s) will have an all expenses paid two day trip to London to have a focussed session with our CEO, facilitated by the Diversity Unit as well as a ‘goody bag’ of book token, dvds, and materials. This award offers a unique opportunity for staff to be recognised for their work and achievements with the view to developing a stronger, more robust focus on EDI in collaboration with the Diversity Unit and CEO office.

TRAINING AND COMMUNICATIONS

1) A series of EDI workshops/training sessions for staff has been devised for 2015-16 an EDI resources toolkit will be devised (see DS). Specifically, a series of legal webinars planned in May and July for staff across the global network to attend. These webinars will explain equality-related UK law as an important contributor to social change, fairness and justice. They are also aimed at providing a good understanding of equality law which adds to staff's EDI leadership capability.

We are running sessions on Unconscious bias and the BC EDI strategy in April, May and June

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2015. DAF (Diversity Assessment Framework) webinars will take place in May and June 2015 with follow-up sessions from September. Longer term, there are plans for sessions on equality monitoring and equality screening and impact assessment in 2015-16 and we will roll out minority ethnic ‘masterclasses’ across the UK and beyond. These have already taken place in London in early 2015 with great success.

We will seek ways of further improving communications with staff on EDI updates. As well as the Annual Report, Corporate Plan, dedicated EDI web pages, we intend to meet more regularly with leaders of all SBUs in the Northern Ireland office regarding the impact of EDI on their work programmes in order to re-affirm our commitment to and awareness of EDI responsibilities and Section 75 duties.

Regarding specific training for NI staff in 2015, we will re-cirulate the British Council's Guide to Promoting Disability Equality and the Disability Action Plan to staff and provide training on disability/accessibility issues for corporate events and build an accessibility profile of external venues.

We also plan to deliver specific EDI training by a member of our EDI team as well as training by the Equality Commission on Section 75 duties in autumn 2015.

We will encourage all staff to create an EDI deliverable in their performance portfolio for 2015-16 find ways to to ensure EDI is mainstreamed across the office.

We plan to formalise the process for ensuring that flexible working opportunities are highlighted in all advertised jobs (see Diversity Strategy)

CONSULTATION

More focussed consultation strategy through the use of press releases, direct mail shots and possibly focus groups to groups representing the various categories in Section 75?? and will continue to revise our consultation list on a regular basis.

30 In relation to the advice and services that the Commission offers, what equality and good relations priorities are anticipated over the next (2015-16) reporting period? (please tick any that apply)

Employment

Goods, facilities and services

Legislative changes

Organisational changes/ new functions

Nothing specific, more of the same

Other (please state):

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PART B - Section 49A of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (as amended) and Disability Action Plans

1. Number of action measures for this reporting period that have been:

6

4

Fully achieved Partially achieved Not achieved

2. Please outline below details on all actions that have been fully achieved in the reporting period.

2 (a) Please highlight what public life measures have been achieved to encourage disabled people to participate in public life at National, Regional and Local levels:

Level Public Life Action Measures Outputsi Outcomes / Impactii

Nationaliii

Ensure the Disability Symbol is displayed on all job advertisements to show commitment to employment and retention of those with disability .

As evidenced in recruitment records, this has been achieved.

Regionaliv

Localv

Identify a local ‘diversity champion’ who can co-ordinate with an established diversity working group to facilitate training, communication, and adherence to EDI principles providing feedback to teams locally on disability and EDI organisational

A dedicated Equality Manager has been recruited in the Northern Ireland office to act as a link between local staff and EDI staff in London.

This has enhanced existing support and enabled more regular communication and training for NI staff. This has also enabled tighter monitoring of desired outcomes against targets.

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and local issues.

2(b) What training action measures were achieved in this reporting period?

Training Action Measures Outputs Outcome / Impact

1

Disability Action Plan to be included in disability awareness training and equal opportunity diversity training

Increased awareness of issues facing those with disability

2

Ensure EDI Disability Issues are covered with permanent and temporary staff, completing e-learning modules at the initial induction process. Locally, automatically incorporated into permanent and temporary staff induction and currently covered in Induction Health and Safety Training. Extend to all contractors, consultants and interns also.

Raised awareness by incorporating into short term temporary staff and intern/student placement inductions and communication to business partners

2(c) What Positive attitudes action measures in the area of Communications were achieved in this reporting period?

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Communications Action Measures

Outputs Outcome / Impact

1 Mainstreaming Disability and Accessibility Awareness into Event Management - guidelines are circulated to all event management teams.

Increased awareness of measures which can be taken to facilitate participation in events by those with disability.

2 Shared Action Plans with all recruitment managers and teams to help make progress towards achieving disability targets for both new positions, moves or promotions

Monitored progress percentages and target achievement

2 (d) What action measures were achieved to ‘encourage others’ to promote the two duties:

Encourage others Action Measures

Outputs Outcome / Impact

1

2

2 (e) Please outline any additional action measures that were fully achieved other than those listed in the tables above:

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Action Measures fully implemented (other than Training and specific public life measures)

Outputs Outcomes / Impact

1

2

3. Please outline what action measures have been partly achieved as follows:

Action Measures partly achieved Milestonesvi / Outputs Outcomes/Impacts Reasons not fully achieved

1 Ensure appropriate and accurate collation of monitoring data UK wide and provide in an appropriate format for reporting and monitoring purposes.

Progress has been made in improving the retention and output of data by central HR.

More action required for staff to update their personal data on the online HR site and production of data in the correct format needs to me improved.

2

Development of more robust systems for maintaining equality monitoring data on internal and external job applicants facilitating easy and accurate retrieval via hub UK systems.

Progress has been made in improving the retention and output of data by central HR. Community Background is now recorded within the Monitoring Form for all NI based jobs at application stage

All NI Specific jobs or jobs where there is any potential to be based in Northern Ireland have community background assigned.

Production of data by central teams is still unreliable so we are continuing to work with central teams to improve this. There are plans for a new system for recording of data to be introduced.

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As members of the Business Disability Forum communicate more broadly to staff members what this means and what they offer i.e. membership provides; an evaluation of the Disability Standard, consultative advice, tailored training and master classes and a content license for our full range of toolkits available for member distribution.

Members will feed back current issues to the Global Diversity Network who will disseminate this in order to broaden scope for participation by those with disability – job applicants, staff members, programme users and business partners.

4. Please outline what action measures have not been achieved and the reasons why.

Action Measures not met Reasons

1 Sharing of affirmative recruitment measures/action taken to extend opportunity to job applicants with disability by use of specialist recruitment partners.

We have only had one external recruitment exercise in 2013-14 and therefore have not been required to take action in this regard, however for any future external recruitment in 2015-16 and beyond we will assess whether this is required/feasible.

2

5. What monitoring tools have been put in place to evaluate the degree to which actions have been effective / develop new opportunities for action?

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(a) Qualitative

Feedback from staff, Business Disability Forum, recruiting managers, Diversity Unit and HR department.

(b) Quantitative

Feedback from customers using event evaluation forms.

6. As a result of monitoring progress against actions has your organisation either:

made any revisions to your plan during the reporting period or taken any additional steps to meet the disability duties which were not outlined in your original disability action plan / any other changes?

No

If yes please outline below:

Revised/Additional Action Measures Performance Indicator Timescale

1

2

3

4

5

PART B

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7. Do you intend to make any further revisions to your plan in light of your organisation’s annual review of the plan? If so, please outline proposed changes?

No cchanges to the Disability Action Plan will be made until the existing actions are fully complete.

i Outputs – defined as act of producing, amount of something produced over a period, processes undertaken to implement the action measure e.g. Undertook 10 training sessions with 100 people at customer service level. ii Outcome / Impact – what specifically and tangibly has changed in making progress towards the duties? What impact can directly be attributed to taking this action? Indicate the results of undertaking this action e.g. Evaluation indicating a tangible shift in attitudes before and after training. iii National : Situations where people can influence policy at a high impact level e.g. Public Appointments iv Regional: Situations where people can influence policy decision making at a middle impact level v Local : Situations where people can influence policy decision making at lower impact level e.g. one off consultations, local fora. vi Milestones – Please outline what part progress has been made towards the particular measures; even if full output or outcomes/ impact have not been achieved.