Equally Safe in Colleges and Universities Core Leadership Group minutes: July 2022

Attendees and apologies

Attendees

• Mr Jamie Hepburn MSP, Minister for Higher Education and Further Education, Youth Employment, and Training
• Debbie Browett, Scottish Government
• Steven Paxton, Scottish Government
• Adam Rendall, Scottish Government
• Daniel McCarron, Scottish Government
• Fiona Drouet, Emily Test
• Suzanne Marshall, College Development Network
• Jill Stevenson, University of Stirling/AMOSSHE
• Niamh Kerr, Rape Crisis Scotland
• Susannah Lane, Universities Scotland
• Nicholas George Edwards, University of Aberdeen/University HR Network
• Liam Furby, NUS Scotland
• Davena Rankin, Glasgow Caledonian University

Apologies

• Andy Witty, Colleges Scotland

Items and actions

Introduction, welcome, and apologies

The Minister welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted apologies as above.

Minutes of previous meeting

The minutes of the meeting of 24 May 2022 were approved.

Consideration of the draft annual operating plan

The Minister thanked the Group for submitting their comments on the draft annual operating plan by correspondence. Members were content to approve the latest version of the Plan which outlines the Group’s strategic aims for 2022/23 and 2023/24.

Action: Scottish Government officials to publish the Plan on the Scottish Government website.

Task and finish groups

The Minister invited Members to suggest key priorities from the Plan that they would like to set up a Task and Finish Group to take forward.

The Group agreed on three key areas for Task and Finish Groups to focus on:

• data sharing arrangements and protocols for information sharing between organisations
• investigation processes and guidance for institutions (subject to the outcome of item 8 on the agenda)
• student and staff training on GBV and sexual harassment

Members suggested that it would be helpful for the scope and membership of these groups to be outlined in further detail.

Action: Scottish Government officials to produce a document outlining the scope of each proposed Task and Finish Group and circulate for agreement by correspondence.

Action: Scottish Government officials to facilitate an initial meeting of the agreed upon Task and Finish Groups.

Update from the Scottish Government roundtable on spiking

Debbie Browett (Scottish Government) provided the Group with an update from the Scottish Government Roundtable on Spiking on 29 June 2022.

Since the high level of reported incidents in October 2021, Police Scotland had noted a significant reduction in reports of spiking. However, there is still a concern that incidents are being underreported. This may be, in part, due to young people who have taken recreational drugs being reluctant to come forward for fear of self-incrimination. With fresher’s week being identified as a potential peak for instances of spiking, members may wish to further consider how reporting can be encouraged. The next roundtable will be on 8 September 2022.

Susannah Lane (Universities Scotland), advised the Group that Universities UK is in the process of producing a guidance note for all UK universities on the topic of spiking.

Non-disclosure agreements

The Minister informed the Group that Scottish Government officials have been approached by ‘Can’t Buy My Silence’, who have produced a pledge for universities to publicly sign that commits institutions to stop using NDAs for complaints about sexual harassment, bullying and other forms of misconduct.

Susannah Lane advised that Universities Scotland produced a statement in 2019 which explicitly states that any such use of confidentiality clauses is wholly unacceptable. However, there may be instances where use of NDAs are appropriate, for example in relation to commercial activity and intellectual property.

Fiona Drouet (Emily Test), highlighted that there is a large amount of money being spent by the sector on NDAs, but not necessarily transparency in how they are being used. This may be an area which requires further scrutiny and evaluation.

Declaration of prior convictions and disciplinary action

The Minister introduced the discussion with reference to a recent incident whereby a student at the University of Glasgow, who was under investigation for sexual assault on a fellow student, was able to enrol at the University of Edinburgh without having to disclose that he had been the subject of disciplinary proceedings at his previous institution. The student was subsequently convicted and sentenced to prison for rape. This has led to some debate around data collection and student safety.

A number of points were raised in the discussion, including:

• at present, UCAS do not require disclosure of prior convictions, or disciplinary action, at the point of application for a course, unless that course is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 or requires membership of the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme. This was changed in 2019 in order to comply with data protection regulations (GDPR)
• applications to college courses do not come through UCAS, each college has their own application system. College Development Network engaged with colleges on this matter in 2019, and it was found that the majority of colleges do not ask for this type of information at application stage; however, more request it at a later stage, for example, at enrolment. There is currently a lack of consistency in approach to this issue across the sector
• universities sought to revise their data collection processes following the introduction of GDPR in 2019, and this review is still ongoing at some institutions. However, every university carries out a privacy impact assessment to consider whether there is a lawful basis to collect this sort of information
• there is a distinction between information relating to criminal convictions, and information relating to internal disciplinary proceedings, in terms of how data is treated in the regulations. This requires further, careful consideration
• any institution that is engaging with the Emily Test Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Charter, and seeking charter status, will be required to have a specific data-collection category for cases of GBV
• the process of information-sharing between institutions, in the context of student safety, was highlighted as a potential area of focus for a Task and Finish Group to consider

Investigative training

The Group explored whether there was a consensus view on how to take forward support and training for staff within organisations who may be required to undertake investigations, including the possibility of using third parties.

Emily Test confirmed that their proposal on investigative training would be subject to a roundtable discussion in order to consider the matter in more detail.

Scottish Government agreed to provide facilities to host this discussion.

Action: Scottish Government officials to host a roundtable discussion on investigation processes and training.

Date of next meeting

The Minister thanked everyone for attending and advised that the next meeting is provisionally scheduled for 26 October 2022.