Staff Counselling Services and Occupational Health Referrals (2016/17 and 2017/18)

The request was partially successful.

Dear Manchester Metropolitan University,

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would be grateful if you could provide the following information relating to Counselling and Mental Health services and Occupational Health referrals in respect of those employed by your University in the 2016/17 and 2017/18 academic years. There are three specific questions, none of which should present difficulties for you to respond to. You will find that I have issued an FOI request of your institution (and other UK HEIs) in respect of previous years. I am delighted to say that a very high proportion of HEIs have complied with these resulting in valuable cross-sector insights. The current FOI constitutes a follow-up and continued evaluation of ongoing trends.

QUESTION ONE: COUNSELLING AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
The total number of staff that accessed University counselling and mental health services in 2016/17 and 2017/18. Please present in a table – ideally an excel document - showing figures separately for each academic year (e.g. 2016/17, 2017/18) or by each calendar year, where data is collected in this way - according to the following categories:-

a) How many were academic staff?
b) How many were professional services staff?
c) How many were male?*
d) How many were female?*

*Please note that some institutions now collect non-binary gender information. Where your institution collects information in this way, please provide in that format. Where data relating to gender is not collected, please simply highlight “n/a”.

Where you, or an external provider (e.g. EAP/EAFP), also breaks down this information by category (e.g. anxiety, bereavement/loss, work-related etc.), please also provide a separate table with this information.

QUESTION TWO: OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH
During the last two full academic years (please present in a table – ideally an excel document - showing figures for each academic year i.e. 2016/17 and 2017/18) or by each calendar year as appropriate, how many staff members were referred to Occupational Health (please highlight by year, whether these were self-referrals, management referrals, or referrals falling into different categories)?

Where the information is available (i.e. either collected by you or held for you by an EAP/EAFP), please separate into the following categories (for each year):-

a) How many were academic staff?
b) How many were professional services staff?
c) How many were male? *
d) How many were female?*

*Please note that some institutions now collect non-binary gender information. Where your institution collects information in this way, please provide in that format. Where data relating to gender is not collected, please simply highlight “n/a”.

QUESTION THREE: EAP/EAFP PROVIDER CHANGES
Please also indicate whether you have changed EAP/EAFP since 2015 and if so, in what year. If you are able to provide a link to the provider in question, or forward the EAP/EAFP reports from 2016/17 and/or 2017/18 so that I can see the reporting methodology that would be helpful.

FURTHER NOTES FOR CLARIFICATION
- If the decision is made to withhold some of this data using exemptions in the Data Protection Act, please inform me of that fact and cite the exemptions used.
- If you need any clarification then please do not hesitate to contact me. If some parts of this request are easier to answer than others, I would ask that you release the available data as soon as possible.
- Where some parts of the information requested cannot be presented in the format requested above, or has not been collected by the University (or where applicable, an external provider collecting and holding this information for the University), in a way that satisfies the FOI request, please exercise your duty under section 16 and highlight what information you are able to provide.
- Please note that this information is being collected as part of a follow-up pan-HEUK study of trends in Counselling Services and Occupational Health in respect of HEI staff.

Yours faithfully,

Nicky Michaels

FOI, Manchester Metropolitan University

Thank you for your email.  
The University aims to respond to all Freedom of Information requests
within 20 working days of receipt.  If this is not possible, we will
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with an alternative response date.
Please note that the 20 working day timescale under the Act starts to run
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Regards
[Manchester Metropolitan University request email] 
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FOI, Manchester Metropolitan University

1 Attachment

Dear Nicky Michaels

 

Apologies for the slight delay in responding. Please find below the
information currently held by the University in the categories you have
requested.  Please note that there are 3 external providers referred to
below for Occupational Health (OH) and Employee Assistance Programmes
(EAP) – the current EAP and previous EAP providers.  There are differences
in the information they record and provide to us, so we have responded
separately regarding the information provided by each service.

 

QUESTION ONE: COUNSELLING AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES

The total number of staff that accessed University counselling and mental
health services in 2016/17 and 2017/18. Please present in a table –
ideally an excel document - showing figures separately for each academic
year (e.g. 2016/17, 2017/18) or by each calendar year, where data is
collected in this way - according to the following categories:-

 

Current provider: 1 January 2019 – 31 March 2019

a) How many were academic staff? Data is not held / broken down to this
level

b) How many were professional services staff?  Data is not held / broken
down to this level

c) How many were male? 13

d) How many were female? 29

Total accessing support = 49

 

Previous provider: 2016/17 and 2017/18 Data is not held: do not collect
information about job roles i.e. professional/academic staff etc.

a) How many were academic staff? Data is not held/broken down to this
level

b) How many were professional services staff?  Data is not held/broken
down to this level

c) How many were male?  See below

d) How many were female? See below

Total accessing support:

2016: 156

2017: 159

2018: 184

  Male Female
2016 23% 77%
2017 26% 74%
2018 33% 67%

 

Where you, or an external provider (e.g. EAP/EAFP), also breaks down this
information by category (e.g. anxiety, bereavement/loss, work-related
etc.), please also provide a separate table with this information.

 

QUESTION TWO: OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

During the last two full academic years (please present in a table –
ideally an excel document - showing figures for each academic year i.e.
2016/17 and 2017/18) or by each calendar year as appropriate, how many
staff members were referred to Occupational Health (please highlight by
year, whether these were self-referrals, management referrals, or
referrals falling into different categories)?

 

Where the information is available (i.e. either collected by you or held
for you by an EAP/EAFP), please separate into the following categories
(for each year):-

 

a) How many were academic staff?

b) How many were professional services staff?

c) How many were male?

d) How many were female?

 

The data is not broken down into the categories specified as this
information is not collected in the referral, please see the tables below
for the information held:

 

2016/2017

Management Referrals 300
Ill Health Retirement Referrals 10
Health Assessment Questionnaires 3
Health Surveillance Referrals 3

 

2017/2018

Management Referrals 346
Ill Health Retirement Referrals 8
Health Assessment Questionnaires 6
Health Surveillance Referrals 9
Mercury Testing Referrals 7

 

 

QUESTION THREE: EAP/EAFP PROVIDER CHANGES

Please also indicate whether you have changed EAP/EAFP since 2015 and if
so, in what year. If you are able to provide a link to the provider in
question, or forward the EAP/EAFP reports from 2016/17 and/or 2017/18 so
that I can see the reporting methodology that would be helpful. 

Yes, the University changed provider in January 2019.  The current
provider is Lifeworks - [1]https://www.lifeworks.com/  and the previous
provider was Optum (for 2016/17 and 2017/18).

 

If you are dissatisfied with this response and wish to appeal our
decision, please write to [2][Manchester Metropolitan University request email] giving your reasons for
appealing.  You must appeal within 2 months of the date of this email. 
Under s5.3 of the Freedom of Information Act Code of Practice, we are not
obliged to accept appeals/internal reviews after this date.  You also have
a subsequent right of appeal to the Information Commissioner’s Office
(ICO), see their contact us page at:
[3]https://ico.org.uk/Global/contact-us/ for more information.

 

Regards

 

Michelle Gretton | Senior Information Governance Officer

Legal Services | Manchester Metropolitan University

Email: [4][Manchester Metropolitan University request email]  

All Saints Building | Oxford Road | Manchester | M15 6BH | United Kingdom
| mmu.ac.uk

[5]Manchester Metropolitan University

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Manchester Metropolitan University,

 

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would be grateful if you
could provide the following information relating to Counselling and Mental
Health services and Occupational Health referrals in respect of those
employed by your University in the 2016/17 and 2017/18 academic years.
There are three specific questions, none of which should present
difficulties for you to respond to. You will find that I have issued an
FOI request of your institution (and other UK HEIs) in respect of previous
years. I am delighted to say that a very high proportion of HEIs have
complied with these resulting in valuable cross-sector insights. The
current FOI constitutes a follow-up and continued evaluation of ongoing
trends.

 

QUESTION ONE: COUNSELLING AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES The total number of
staff that accessed University counselling and mental health services in
2016/17 and 2017/18. Please present in a table – ideally an excel document
- showing figures separately for each academic year (e.g. 2016/17,
2017/18) or by each calendar year, where data is collected in this way -
according to the following categories:-

 

a) How many were academic staff?

b) How many were professional services staff?

c) How many were male?*

d) How many were female?*

 

*Please note that some institutions now collect non-binary gender
information. Where your institution collects information in this way,
please provide in that format. Where data relating to gender is not
collected, please simply highlight “n/a”.

 

Where you, or an external provider (e.g. EAP/EAFP), also breaks down this
information by category (e.g. anxiety, bereavement/loss, work-related
etc.), please also provide a separate table with this information.

 

QUESTION TWO: OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

During the last two full academic years (please present in a table –
ideally an excel document - showing figures for each academic year i.e.
2016/17 and 2017/18) or by each calendar year as appropriate, how many
staff members were referred to Occupational Health (please highlight by
year, whether these were self-referrals, management referrals, or
referrals falling into different categories)?

 

Where the information is available (i.e. either collected by you or held
for you by an EAP/EAFP), please separate into the following categories
(for each year):-

 

a) How many were academic staff?

b) How many were professional services staff?

c) How many were male? *

d) How many were female?*

 

*Please note that some institutions now collect non-binary gender
information. Where your institution collects information in this way,
please provide in that format. Where data relating to gender is not
collected, please simply highlight “n/a”.

 

QUESTION THREE: EAP/EAFP PROVIDER CHANGES Please also indicate whether you
have changed EAP/EAFP since 2015 and if so, in what year. If you are able
to provide a link to the provider in question, or forward the EAP/EAFP
reports from 2016/17 and/or 2017/18 so that I can see the reporting
methodology that would be helpful. 

 

FURTHER NOTES FOR CLARIFICATION

- If the decision is made to withhold some of this data using exemptions
in the Data Protection Act, please inform me of that fact and cite the
exemptions used.

- If you need any clarification then please do not hesitate to contact me.
If some parts of this request are easier to answer than others, I would
ask that you release the available data as soon as possible.

- Where some parts of the information requested cannot be presented in the
format requested above, or has not been collected by the University (or
where applicable, an external provider collecting and holding this
information for the University), in a way that satisfies the FOI request,
please exercise your duty under section 16 and highlight what information
you are able to provide.

- Please note that this information is being collected as part of a
follow-up pan-HEUK study of trends in Counselling Services and
Occupational Health in respect of HEI staff.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Nicky Michaels

 

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References

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