Mr Gallacher,

Please find the following response to your FOI dated 20^th June 2020.

    1. Since lockdown until 19 June 2020, can you please provide details
of the number of staff who have accessed the college buildings or
otherwise travelled on college business?  Can you please break this down
into dates, roles, FTE numbers, duration in hours/minutes, reason for
attendance and also indicate whether this was on a voluntary basis  or for
reasons connected with their substantive roles? 

Please see the attached file.

    2. Please advise whether there was prior consultation with Trade
Unions before staff entered the building or travelled on college
business?  If not, please indicate your reasons.

There was no formal consultation with TU.  Both TU Reps, however, are also
Team Leaders and members of the Emergency Management Team and were
involved in all meetings where access to estate, RAs et . was being
discussed, including safety measures for visitors and internal staff.  

    3. Were Trade Unions involved in the drafting/agreement of risk
assessments prior to staff accessing the buildings and did staff have
sight of these prior 

         to entry?

Risk assessments (RAs) were drawn up in accordance with NHC H&S Policy,
which had been approved following consultation with the H&S Committee,
which includes TU H&S Reps.  The initial issue of COVID RAs were copied to
all staff, and these have been replaced since with updated versions which
have been reviewed by the Unison Rep as part of the group of staff
requested to review and agree the content.  

NHC’s control of access policy has been closely managed by the Estates
team throughout lockdown and phases 1 and 2, and granting access to NHC
buildings has been conditional on the staff concerned reading the RAs
beforehand.

    4. Did any staff members have to travel more than five miles in order
to attend work under these circumstances?  If so, how many?

Please see the attached file.

    5. Did any staff have to use public transport to attend work under
these circumstances?  If so, how many?

  No

    6. Was the decision to have staff attend work equality impact
assessed? If not, why not?  

No, the urgency of the decisions meant this was unreasonable, however, NHC
safety policies (H&S and Fire Safety) are equality impact assessed.

I trust that this closes your request. If I can be of any further
assistance, please do not hesitate to let us know.

North Highland College - UHI

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