Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy 

Context 

The Blue Zone Consortium is enriched by the diversity of perspectives, cultures and backgrounds brought by its partner universities, cross-collaborators, and members. The Consortium is firmly committed to sustaining a highly research environment characterised by fairness, equality of opportunity and the valuing of diversity. 

Purpose   

The purpose of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy (the ‘Policy’) is to set out the Consortium’s commitment to an inclusive and supportive environment for all members of the Blue Zone Consortium, our collaborators, and partners that is free from discrimination, where all are able to participate and where everyone has the opportunity to fulfil their potential. Equally, the Policy sets out the Consortium’s expectations, where each member of the Consortium has a responsibility to adhere to and uphold the Policy. These responsibilities are detailed in Section 6. The Policy promotes positive attitudes towards inclusivity and valuing diversity. It also seeks to ensure that all who are subject to the Consortium’s policies, practices and procedures are treated fairly and are not treated less favourably on the grounds of any of the nine protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation. These protected characteristics are detailed in Appendix 1. 

Scope   

The Policy applies to all Consortium staff, members, collaborators, and those contracted to work for the Consortium.  

Legal and University Policy Context   

The Policy is in accordance with relevant equalities related legislation, and in particular, the Equality Act 2010 (the ‘Act’). As part of its responsibilities under the Act, the University is subject to the public sector equality duty and so must have due regard to the need to: a) eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any conduct that is prohibited by or under the Act. b) advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it; c) foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it. The key behaviours prohibited under the Act are detailed in Appendix 2. This policy has undergone equality analysis to comply with the University’s legislative responsibilities. 

This Policy has been written in accordance with the equality, diversity, and inclusion policies of the partner universities (Nottingham Trent University, Northumbria University, University of Leicester). The Policy has been approved by all three partner universities. The Policy has been approved by the Blue Zone Consortium governance board. 

Consortium Policy Statement   

The Consortium is committed to embedding equality and inclusion in all of its practices and aims to establish an inclusive culture, that celebrates diversity, is free from discrimination and based on the values of dignity and respect. 

Roles and Responsibilities    

All Consortium staff, members, collaborators and contractors have equalities related responsibilities.  

The Consortium governance board are responsible for: 

• Ensuring that the Consortium meets its legal obligations relating to equality 

• Leading and supporting the Consortium in creating an inspirational, inclusive and diverse environment  

• Leading the Consortium in fulfilling its Public Duty under the 2010 Equality Act, which includes annual equality information reporting, equality analysis, monitoring and consultation  

• Ensuring that an effective policy and provision infrastructure is in place to support the Consortium in both meeting its legal responsibilities and fulfilling its equality, diversity, and inclusion vision 

• Providing advice, guidance and support on the application of this policy. 

The Consortium Executive Team is responsible for:  

• Ensuring that equality analysis is carried out on all proposed policies, training programmes, events, funding competitions, and decisions where appropriate 

• Ensuring that procedures relating to staff recruitment, selection, career development, discipline and grievance are carried out in accordance with the statutory duties to promote equality and eliminate discrimination  

• Monitoring the profile of applicants and award-holders by protected characteristics and agreeing an action plan to address underperformance 

• Fostering a culture in which equality and diversity considerations are embedded into all areas of the Consortium (communication, training, events, funding competitions) 

• Ensuring that all members are encouraged and enabled to reach their full potential within the context of their interaction with the Consortium 

• Upholding and implementing the aims of this policy 

• Promoting equality of opportunity. 

Members and contractors are responsible for:  

• Upholding the principles of this policy  

• Contributing to a safe and inclusive environment that celebrates diversity. 

How this is communicated and schedule for review 

The Policy is publicly available on the Consortium website. Alternative formats of the Policy are available via the Consortium Executive team. 

The Consortium website will facilitate communication with partners, members, and collaborators. 

It will provide an opportunity to track the progress of initiatives and access published documents. A secure SharePoint repository will be used for storage of member equality, diversity, and inclusion data collected in the Join Us form. 

The Policy will be reviewed annually by the governance board and any amendments recorded and approved.  

Equality, diversity, and inclusion data will be requested only when people join the Consortium. No EDI data will be requested when members apply for training, events or funding competitions, and therefore will never be shared with reviewers. EDI data collected will include: gender, age, ethnicity, and disability. The Executive Team will collate anonymised equality, diversity, and inclusion metrics of the membership annually for reporting to the governance board and to the funder as requested. They will also collate anonymised EDI data from members that apply for training, funding, and events as well as success rates, which will be presented to the Governance board at the meeting immediately after collation.   

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Appendix 1: : Equality Act 2010 Protected Characteristics 

Protected characteristic	Equality Act 2010
Age	The Act protects people of all ages. However, different treatment because of age is not unlawful direct or indirect discrimination if you can justify it, i.e. if you can demonstrate that it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. Age is the only protected characteristic that allows employers to justify direct discrimination.
Disability	Under the Act, a person is disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
Gender Reassignment	The Act provides protection for transsexual people. A transsexual person is someone who proposes to, starts or has completed a process to change his or her gender. The Act no longer requires a person to be under medical supervision to be protected – so a woman who decides to live as a man but does not undergo any medical procedures would be covered. Where transsexual people are absent from work or study because they propose to undergo, are undergoing or have undergone gender reassignment, it is discrimination to treat them less favourably than they would be treated if they were absent because they were ill or injured.
Marriage and Civil Partnership	The Act protects employees who are married or in a civil partnership against discrimination. Single people are not protected.
Pregnancy and maternity	A woman is protected against discrimination on the grounds of pregnancy and maternity during the period of her pregnancy and any statutory maternity leave to which she is entitled.
Race	For the purposes of the Act ‘race’ includes colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins.
Religion or Belief	In the Equality Act, religion includes any religion. It also includes a lack of religion, in other words employees or jobseekers are protected if they do not follow a certain religion or have no religion at all. Additionally, a religion must have a clear structure and belief system. Belief means any religious or philosophical belief or a lack of such belief. To be protected, a belief must satisfy various criteria, including that it is a weighty and substantial aspect of human life and behaviour. Denominations or sects within a religion can be considered a protected religion or religious belief. Discrimination because of religion or belief can occur even where both the discriminator and recipient are of the same religion or belief.
Sex	Both men and women are protected under the Act.
Sexual Orientation	The Act protects bisexual, gay, heterosexual and lesbian people.