PREVENT AT UWE Presentation by JO MIDGLEY Pro

PREVENT AT UWE Presentation by JO MIDGLEY Pro Vice-Chancellor Student Experience

UWE’s values and commitments • Freedom of Speech and academic freedom • Equality and diversity • Inclusive and safe campus • We feel we achieve highly on all these points • We are committed to these values and will continue to be

Prevent Duty Monitoring • All Universities in England have a legal obligation to respond to the Prevent Duty (since 18 September 2015) • We will be monitored by the Higher Education Funding Council For England • We need to be compliant by April 2016 • HEFCE has required all Universities to devise an action plan which reflects their specific needs and risks

Prevent at UWE: Assessing risks • UWE set up a Prevent Task and Finish Group in May 2015 • The SU is represented on this group and has been closely involved • Chair: Pro VC Student Experience • Risk assessment: we assess current risks of radicalisation on UWE’s campuses as being low • No incident so far • We want our response to Prevent to be proportionate, inclusive and supportive

Prevent at UWE: what we will do • Draft an External Speaker Policy • Strengthen Room booking processes • Train staff to recognise signs of vulnerability • Communicate to staff and students on how to raise concerns • Fully assess concerns relating to safeguarding internally • Offer support to students who are vulnerable • Continue to promote inclusivity and diversity and take a very serious stance on any kind of harassment, including hate crime

Prevent at UWE: what we will NOT do • UWE has no intention of spying on students, directly or indirectly – We will not be tracking your emails or browsing history • UWE has no intention of restricting freedom of speech – Even if a speaker is considered to be radical, we will endeavour to run the event. Our draft External Speaker policy states: “In the spirit of debate, the University will normally seek to ensure that events or speakers identified as posing a risk will go ahead subject to the agreement of appropriate safeguards. Cancellation of an event will only occur in exceptional circumstances, for example upon the advice of Police. “

What next ? On line consultation: 20 th January-1 st February Read, discuss, and feedback Find more information and documents for consultation here: • http: //www 1. uwe. ac. uk/students/healthandwellbeing/safeg uardingandpreventduty/preventstudentconsultation. aspx • Follow link from student newsletter on Thursday 21 st January • On SU Website from Thursday 21 st January We look forward to hearing from you: Prevent@uwe. ac. uk