Our commitments to EDI
It is imperative to the HCPC to be a fair and inclusive regulator in order for us to meet our organisational objectives and to be an effective regulator and employer. We were set up to protect the public and we recognise that in the UK, the public are a culturally rich and diverse group. This diversity is reflected in our registrants and all those who interact with us.
We intend that everybody should be equally able to access our services and be treated fairly and supported when doing so.
Nobody should experience discrimination, harassment or victimisation when they interact with us. We set out our legal duties around equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion policy.
In order to meet our EDI objectives, hold us to account for delivery, and to regularly engage with our registrants and understand their lived experiences, we have established our HCPC EDI Forum (since 2020). We also have other ways of working which support us in delivering against our EDI objectives, including an EDI Steering Group and Executive EDI Lead.
Purpose of the EDI Forum
The purpose of the EDI Forum will be to provide guidance and support to help us meet our aims, by:
- providing advice and comment on the development and delivery of our five-year EDI strategy and action plans
- raising relevant issues and concerns to enable us to develop an appropriate response (including sharing lived experiences)
- offering comment and advice on the development of appropriate policies and strategies that enable us to be a fair regulator
- providing us with an opportunity to listen and seek views on and raise broader awareness about our priorities and progress with stakeholders.
Expectations and Ground Rules
To meet virtually on Microsoft Teams for approx. 1.5 hours on a quarterly basis, starting in September 2020.
All members of the Forum will be treated with respect; with all members listening, recognising and valuing diversity of opinion.
Members will be mindful and ensure that this Forum is for sharing ideas for improvements in the future and it will not be appropriate to share detailed individual past experiences (for example, fitness to practise cases). Instead we will draw learning from such experiences on a thematic level and seek to generate solutions to thematic issues.
HCPC will provide updates and seek advice on emerging pieces of work of particular relevance to members.
Meetings will be consultative in style and support a shared understanding of EDI issues affecting registrants in the UK.
The summary note of the meetings will be recorded by the Secretariat, and a draft circulated via e-mail to be formally agreed at the next meeting.
The Chair and Secretariat
The Forum will be chaired by the Executive Director of Policy and External Relations, Jacqueline Ladds.
Secretariat Support will be provided by the EDI Policy Manager, with the support of the Policy Co-ordinator.
Membership of the EDI Forum
Membership is open to all registrants and stakeholder organisations to welcome diverse input and the option to join the Forum will be regularly advertised on the HCPC website. Given the size of membership, it will likely to be appropriate to split the Members of the Forum into two group sessions in order to provide enough time for adequate input. The Secretariat will endeavour to regularly re-fresh the make-up of the two sessions to encourage diversity of thought.
The Secretariat for the EDI Forum will be responsible for monitoring and seeking to ensure representation of the nine protected characteristics in the membership.
There will also be guest spaces for specific speakers, including our staff. This will allow for us to invite specialists to provide updates and seek advice from members. For example, our Standards team may attend to discuss proposed changes to ethical guidance.
Review
The Forum will review its output, working methods and Terms of Reference annually.