Oldham Enterprise Trust (OET) Enterprise Panel – Conflict of Interest Policy
All members of the OET Enterprise Panel will strive to avoid any conflict of interest between the interests of the Enterprise Trust on the one hand, and personal, professional, and business interests on the other. This includes avoiding actual conflicts of interest as well as the perception of conflicts of interest.
The purpose of this policy is to protect the integrity of the Enterprise Panel’s decision-making process, to enable all stakeholders to have confidence in our integrity, and to protect the integrity and reputation of panel members.
Examples of conflicts of interest include:
1 A panel member who is related to an applicant for funding.
2 A panel member who has shares in a business that may be awarded funding.
3 A panel member who is in discussion with an applicant regarding a potential financial interest.
Upon appointment to the Enterprise Panel and when in receipt of applicants’ submissions, which will include business details, each committee member will make a full, written disclosure of interests, such as relationships and positions held that could potentially result in a conflict of interest. This written disclosure will be kept on file and will be updated as appropriate.
In the course of the Panel meetings and prior to commencement Panel members will disclose any interests in a transaction or decision where there may be a conflict between the Applicants best interests and the Panel members best interests or a conflict between the best interests of more than one Applicants’ business that the Panel member is involved with.
Following a disclosure Option 1 will be followed and will be decided upon by the Panel Chair, in partnership with the OET Manager (or his representative). In the event of the Panel Chair making a disclosure Option 2 will be followed decided upon by the OET Manager (or his representative).
- Option 1: After disclosure, the Panel member may be asked to leave the room for the discussion and may not be able to take part in the decision depending on the judgement of the other committee members present at the time.
- Option 2: After disclosure, the Panel Chair will be asked to leave the room for the discussion and will not be able to take part in the decision.
Any such disclosure and the subsequent actions taken will be noted.
This policy is meant to supplement good judgment and all persons involved in and working with members of the Enterprise Fund Panel should respect its spirit as well as its wording.
Date Adopted: ______7/8/20______D C Benstead Chair Oldham Enterprise Trust