The Yorkshire County Cricket Club is pleased to announce the actions it has taken since they received the Report prepared by the Independent Panel in August this year.
The Club would like to thank the Panel whose work as a Panel has come to an end. The Panellists, Dr. Samir Pathak, Stephen Willis, Rehana Azib , Mesba Ahmed and Helen Hyde gave up a huge amount of their time voluntarily. The Club are grateful for their work and insight. In particular the Club would like to recognise the hard work of specialist employment barrister Rehana Azib and HR expert Helen Hyde who ultimately compiled the Report.
The Club has previously provided a summary of that Report in the press but for legal reasons has been unable to publish the Report in its entirety.
The Club is pleased to have disclosed a redacted version of the Report as part of the ongoing Employment Tribunal proceedings on 8 October.
Following this disclosure the Club has also been able to provide a copy of the Report to the ECB and is working with them on their investigation into the issues raised. The Club is also keen to work with the ECB on issues of diversity and have offered their help to the ECB on what is such an important issue for the game as a whole.
Ultimately the issues raised by Azeem Rafiq are going to be considered not only by the Panel but also the Employment Tribunal and the ECB.
The Club has also carried out their own internal investigation following the findings in the Report after which they are able to report that they have come to the conclusion that there is no conduct or action taken by any of its employees, players or Executives that warrants disciplinary action.
None of this diminishes the importance of the findings or that fact that there is much the Club can learn from the Report. It was important for Azeem to raise the issues and without him doing so we would not have the Panel’s recommendations which are an important part of the Clubs continuing journey. Club Chair Roger Hutton believes the Club and everyone connected to it should be proud of the work that the Club has done to improve diversity and inclusion prior to his involvement, but equally acknowledges there remains much to be done going forward. The Club is fully supportive of what is a strong and talented team which is working hard on the recommendations on the way forward for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and looks forward being able to report on further developments over the coming months.
