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

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 UWE’s values and commitments

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 s 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 We look forward to hearing from you: Find more information and documents for consultation here: uardingandpreventduty/preventstudentconsultation.aspx uardingandpreventduty/preventstudentconsultation.aspx Follow link from student newsletter on Thursday 21 st January On SU Website from Thursday 21 st January