Recommendation 19

HM Government · verbatim extract Not Addressed

99. UKRI’s equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) Strategy12 sets out the following actions relevant to this recommendation: • The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Research Infrastructure team will be considering accessibility and the user diversity of their large-scale facilities, exploring how to remove barriers. 12 https://www.ukri.org/publications/ukris-equality-diversity-and-inclusion-strategy/ • Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) will undertake actions to improve workplace accessibility across its sites for staff and visitors, including: ○ developing guiding principles for STFC’s welfare and wellbeing amenities and incorporating these in the design guides and site development plans. ○ developing STFC’s accessible and inclusive design standard, driving inclusivity for all site occupants and supporting UKRI’s plans for growth. ○ commissioning a Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) site accessibility audit. This approach will be extended to other STFC sites. 100. UKRI’s Workforce EDI plan includes an objective to identify and address structural barriers to staff inclusion within UKRI. This includes a holistic approach to providing reasonable adjustments that ensures colleagues have equitable access to meet their needs. This includes a workplace adjustment passport that will support with identifying and implementing reasonable adjustments. The plan will also enable support through schemes like Access to Work. In addition, as per UKRI’s standard FEC grant costing methodology, UKRI will fund costs for reasonable adjustments for an individual to work on a research grant, that are above and beyond the reasonable adjustments needed for the individual to undertake their normal job. This could include adjustments to support the individual in accessing a research facility as part of their research grant work, as those costs are directly attributed to the needs of the research.