CONFLICT OF INTEREST POLICY

 

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to provide guidance to relevant individuals on handling possible conflicts of interest that may arise at the College as training and Education provider, assessor and moderator of accredited units and qualifications.

 

This policy applies to all staff and other individuals whenever they interact or potentially interact with any of the college’s operations.

 

This policy:

 

·Defines what is meant by conflict of interest sets out the roles and responsibilities for managing conflict of interest

·Illustrations of potential conflict of interest situations.

 

Scope

It is the policy of the College that Tutors, Assessors and Internal Verifiers acting on behalf of the college must be free from conflicts of interest that could adversely affect their judgment or objectivity to the organisation in conducting business activities and assignments.

College recognises that tutors and assessors may take part in legitimate financial, business, charitable and other activities outside of their recognised roles at the college, but any potential conflict of interest raised by those activities must be acknowledged, disclosed, and in relevant cases properly managed.

 

It is the responsibility of each individual to recognise situations in which they have a conflict of interest, or might reasonably be seen by others to have a conflict; to disclose this conflict and to take such further steps as may be appropriate and set out in more detail under the procedure below.

 

Definition of conflict of interest

A conflict of interest is a situation in which an individual, or organisation, has competing interests or loyalties. Conflicts of interest can arise in a variety of circumstances in relation to awarding organisation activity, for example:

 

·where the training delivery function and the awarding function rest within one organisation and the functions are not strictly delineated

·when an individual has a position of authority in one organisation which conflicts with his or her interests in another organisation

·when an individual has personal interests that conflict with his/her professional position

·A conflict of interest may generally be defined as a conflict between the official responsibilities of a tutor, assessor, and internal verifier and any other interests  the particular individual may have and as such could compromise or appear to  compromise their decisions

·A person who is connected to the development, delivery or award of qualifications by the organisation has interests in any other activity which have the potential to lead that person to act contrary to his or her interests in that development, delivery or award in accordance with the awarding organisations conditions of recognition

· An informed and reasonable observer would conclude that either of the above situations was the case

·Tutors and assessors working with a business that is in direct competition to the College

·Tutors and assessors participating in the appointment, supervision evaluation or

·assessment of a person with whom the person, has close or familial ties

·Tutors and assessors having a close or familial relationship with the registered learner, or learners’ family whilst being involved in decisions about the outcome of their accreditation or qualification or where the person whose remuneration is in part determined by the outcome of the assessment.

 

Roles and responsibilities

All relevant staff undertaking assessment (‘assessors’), moderation (‘moderators’ or

‘verifiers’) and other individuals have a responsibility to be aware of the potential for a conflict of interest.

 

Such situations must be carefully managed to ensure that any conflict of interest does not detrimentally impact on the standards of the college and its awarding and inspecting bodies as well as public confidence.

 

It is the duty of all tutors and assessors to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest, to their line managers or the Director, in writing. The information submitted is then evaluated to identify if any further action is required and a written record of the outcome of the evaluation is kept and a copy will be provided to the concerned individuals.

 

If the individual concerned has any changes to their declared circumstances, they must inform their line manager immediately in writing, so that the conflict of interest can be evaluated, and the register updated.