Agenda item

Joint report of the Director of Arts and the Head of HR.

The Board received a joint report of the Director of Arts and the Head of HR concerning work undertaken to develop and implement a new Equality and Inclusion Strategy.

Although listed as a “for information” report, it was observed that the Board should in fact be being asked to consider and approve the strategy presented for adoption.

Members expressed their strong support for the strategy; however, it was observed that without baseline figures it would be very difficult to assess progress and set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The Head of HR advised that benchmarking data for staff was currently available and he was confident that the audience research project should also provide baseline figures in respect of that area. However, data collection for artists had only recently begun and therefore might take a reasonable period of time to build up. He also cautioned that it was not possible to make it compulsory for all individuals to submit accurate data, so there could never be full confidence that figures would be entirely accurate; notwithstanding this, the Barbican would strive to collate as accurate information as possible.

With reference to the individual department plans which were tabled, it was also noted that gender and ethnicity were not the only protected characteristics and the Head of HR was urged to look across all such items, as well as the intersections where possible.

RESOLVED: That the Equality and Inclusion Strategy, as set out in the report, be endorsed and approved.