A conflict of interest is a perceived, potential or actual, personal or commercial interest which creates a conflict of interest with an employee's or contractor's responsibilities.
Definition of conflict of interest:
- A perceived conflict of interest is where other people might reasonably think you are not being objective.
- A potential conflict of interest is where the conflict is about to happen or could happen.
- An actual conflict of interest is where you already have a conflict.
A conflict of interest for Consentium and Consentium’s employees or contractors can include but is not limited to:
- Approaches from other areas within Kāinga Ora to meet a request to provide them a compliance service
- Building work that Consentium or their employees or contractors have an interest in or are involved in e.g. Kāinga Ora buildings
- Commercial, financial, political or personal interest in a piece of work,
- Being subject to inducements, coercion, threats, or other pressures that might affect independence or ability to perform their responsibilities. If an employee or contractor is in a position to render an official decision that will benefit them personally or people with whom they are closely associated
- An employee or contractor involved in another business
- An employee or contractor being member of, or having involvement in, a trust or community
- A spouse, partner or member of an employee or contractor's immediate family designing or constructing buildings across the country
- An employee or contractor carrying out pre-purchased or survey inspections, or design or construction work where they may be involved in the processing of the application or inspection of the work
- An employee or contractor having a financial interest, professional or legal obligation (such as being a trustee) in a property which is the subject of a building consent
- An employee or contractor having worked on a project in previous employment which is the subject of a building consent
- An employee or contractor conducting any design or construction work across the country
How conflict is managed?
Consentium receives all its applications from within its parent organisation of Kāinga Ora and therefore managing the conflict within the organisation is paramount in ensuring that Consentium is not in any way influenced by any conflict.
Managing the conflicts is at the forefront of Consentium.
There is an ongoing conflict of interest between Consentium as a Building Consent Authority and other areas within Kāinga Ora.
Operating guidelines between Consentium and each customer group have been created and mitigation strategies are in place. Staff in relevant business units are educated on their roles and responsibilities.
