The processes for collection of statistics within the Department are well established but could be used more constructively. Going forward we will produce a single annual report of all statistics (student admissions, exam performance, staff promotion, recruitment etc), to be used as part of an extended HoGs annual discussion against our quantified measures-of-success targets. We aim to present a summary annually at a staff meeting. We will also use the data to help formulate the Department level surveys, tailoring them more specifically to test the impact of our action plan activities. Departmental surveys will be planned as routine, to be held every three years. Some of our success measures will be determined by the survey responses. To embed these processes is challenging and it is likely to take a full five years until they become routine best practice.

New school outreach activities are planned, targeting the GCSE attrition point. We aim to encourage more women to apply for RA posts. A high number of new lectureship level appointments are now being taken from the Fellowships pool and so we have plans to encourage more female RAs to apply for Fellowships. Our recruitment practices will be reviewed and we will set in place a new guideline to encourage staff to increase the field of applicants for academic appointments. We also aim to expand the scope of our activities to widen the involvement of ethnic minority groups. We have identified a number of actions to help the promotion process.

The current structure for career development of academic staff is very good and fit for purpose. We will work more closely with the Post Doc Development centre to provide mentors and role models. We will set up an Early Career Researcher (ECR) network and aim to respond to requests from that community in terms of improving departmental processes. We will review the Departmental Champion Scheme that we have recently set up and maximise the benefits of the annual PRDP process.

Communication links have been improved. Setting up the ECR will provide a bridge between RAs, Fellowships and Staff. We aim to further improve awareness of the Juno committee work and the progress towards successful outcomes. We aim to improve links between PGs and RAs. We will communicate the work load model and the prize nominations procedure more widely and maintain the visibility of awards. Minutes of all key committees will go on the web as will promotion success rates.

The progress in this domain has been very good with an increase of staff taking up part time work. Our main new activity will be the use of the long-term-leave form to better facilitate proper discussion between staff and line manager prior to leave or change of contract status.