Is Report and Support the only way I can raise an issue?
No, there are a number of ways in which you can raise an issue.
Students:
You can raise a particular issue by speaking with your personal tutor via email, telephone or face-to-face, or indeed any member of staff that you may feel comfortable sharing with.
You can contact the Student Wellbeing Services by emailing studentwellbeing@hw.ac.uk or calling 0131 451 3386. This service provides dedicated wellbeing, mental health, disability and counselling support for any issues you or someone you know may be experiencing. The Student Wellbeing Centre is open Monday-Friday between 09:30 and 16:00, with a daily drop-in between 14:00 and 15:00 every weekday.
The Student Union Advice Hub also offer a free, impartial and confidential service on a range of issues, including university life, mental health and wellbeing. This service is available to all students by emailing advice.hub@hw.ac.uk. The Advice Hub is open 10:00-16:00, Monday to Friday.
Out of hours you can contact our Safeguarding Services by calling 0131 451 3500 or via the SafeZone app.
Staff:
You can raise a particular issue by speaking with your line manager, Executive Dean, or HR representative via email, telephone or face-to-face, or indeed any member of staff that you may feel comfortable sharing with.
Complaints:
Should you wish to make a formal complaint, you can do so by contacting the Complaints Team. Whilst complaints can be raised in person, by phone and via email, we strongly recommend completing the University complaints form which will help to ensure that all aspects of a complaint, including the outcome being sought, are clearly understood by the University. Complaints should emailed to complaints@hw.ac.uk.
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What happens when someone makes an anonymous report?
Any report will initially only be viewed by the University Complaints Office. The report will be then be determined whether the nature of the report is required to be considered further by:
·Student Wellbeing or Counselling Services,
·The University’s Student Conduct Office (if relating to the conduct of a student); or
·The University’s HR Department (if relating to the conduct of a member of staff).
The University Complaints Office will first review the report to identify any risks that relate to duty of care. If no immediate risk is identified, no further, direct action will be taken. If any identifiable information is provided, the University Complaints Office will then remove the identifiable information.
The information kept will only be used for trend analysis and to inform proactive prevention.
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What is the difference between anonymous and contact detail reports?
If you submit your issue anonymously the University will not know who has made an anonymous report, and therefore cannot reach out and provide support. Additionally, it may not be possible to investigate the complaint fully without further information, and in the absence of knowing who has reported the matter, may limit the investigation and the possible resolutions to address the issues. Finally, the reporting individual will not be able to receive an outcome to their issue.
Whereas if someone wants to receive support or the outcomes to address a concern, they need to make a contact report (or speak to an advisor). All information is treated confidentially, and only those who are required to be informed of the matter will be given any information (maintaining the reporting individuals’ anonymity where this is possible, and only disclosed if required to directly resolve the concern).
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What happens when someone wants to contact an advisor?
An advisor may be an appropriate member of staff (Student Well-Being or Counselling Services, Human Resources or Student Conduct Office). The University Complaints Office will assign a case to the appropriate advisor, where this is required and cannot be addressed via the University Complaints Handling Procedures. Each advisor is provided with an individual login and can only access cases that have been assigned to them, by the University Complaints Office.
The advisor receives an email notification that a case has been assigned to them – no identifiable information is provided within this email alert. The advisor then logs into Report and Support to access information provided using their personal login details. The advisor then makes contact with the person who has made the report and they arrange a meeting to discuss the report.
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What action can you take from anonymous reports?
Information provided within anonymous reports will be used as statistical data to understand what is happening and to inform proactive prevention work. The University Complaints Office will work with areas identified to address any concerning trends.
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How will Heriot-Watt University manage malicious complaints?
If a report is found to be malicious or vexatious, such reports will be addressed under existing student and staff disciplinary procedures.
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What do you do with the information gathered from anonymous reports?
Information provided within anonymous reports will be used as statistical data to understand what is happening and to inform proactive prevention work. The University Complaints Office will work with areas identified to address any concerning trends.
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What do you do with the data gathered from contact reports?
The data collected from Report and Support is used to produce anonymised annual reports. These reports would include the number of cases, most reported types of harassment and location.
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How secure is the data and information sent through the system?
Data held on Report and Support is GDPR compliant and further information about how data is collected and stored is outlined in the Privacy Notice. The system has been security tested by both the developer, Culture Shift, and by Heriot-Watt University.
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How long is data stored on the system?
We will only retain personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for. All personal data will be kept according to the Records Retention Schedule.