ECF Governance and conflict of interests

Debate directly related to English Chess Federation matters.
Paul Cooksey
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ECF Governance and conflict of interests

Post by Paul Cooksey » Sun Jul 11, 2021 11:44 am

I think this warrants a thread of its own. I might copy across some more of the comments made in other threads that I have been thinking about. But this seems like a place to start:
John Upham wrote:
Sun Jul 11, 2021 10:50 am
In the unlikely event I would put myself up for election for an ECF post would I be labelled as unaligned?
Actually I know John well enough to have an idea of his interests in the chess world. But I am wondering how someone from the other end of the country would make a judgement.

I'm always reluctant to add complexity to the ECF. So a full scale register of interests seems excessive. But I am wondering about whether candidates should be asked or even required to declare their roles in other chess organisations, and whether they are paid?

Angus French
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Re: ECF Governance and conflict of interests

Post by Angus French » Sun Jul 11, 2021 12:00 pm

There is an ECF Register of Interests but it only applies to Director and senior officer positions. I see it has recently been updated though there was a recent period - I think of several years - when it wasn't. It can be found on the ECF website via About Us -> Documents or directly: https://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-cont ... -2021.xlsx.

I think it would be a good idea if it's scope was extended then we might see for example that Lorin D'Costa (to pick an example which comes to mind) who is a Gold Members' rep has been a trainer for the English Women's Team which is presumably a paid position.

Paul Cooksey
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Re: ECF Governance and conflict of interests

Post by Paul Cooksey » Sun Jul 11, 2021 12:05 pm

good grief! I should have checked.

NickFaulks
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Re: ECF Governance and conflict of interests

Post by NickFaulks » Sun Jul 11, 2021 12:07 pm

Paul Cooksey wrote:
Sun Jul 11, 2021 11:44 am
But I am wondering about whether candidates should be asked or even required to declare their roles in other chess organisations, and whether they are paid?
All ECF Directors, plus ( rather on the fringe ) the Finance and Governance Committees, have to do that. Their declared interests are listed on the website.

Yes, I would extend this to Member Reps.
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John Upham
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Re: ECF Governance and conflict of interests

Post by John Upham » Sun Jul 11, 2021 12:51 pm

Paul Cooksey wrote:
Sun Jul 11, 2021 11:44 am
Actually I know John well enough to have an idea of his interests in the chess world. But I am wondering how someone from the other end of the country would make a judgement.
I thought I had posted my many and varied allegiances elsewhere in this place.

Hopefully they will rule me out from being considered for election. :D

"I'm sorry but you know too many people and you have fingers in too many pies. For that reason, you are out!"

Many moons ago it was suggested I could find a role but I replied I could not imagine anyone who would want to work with me. That applies to myself also.
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Paul Cooksey
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Re: ECF Governance and conflict of interests

Post by Paul Cooksey » Sun Jul 11, 2021 1:08 pm

I think if John was standing for Membership Director he should say he is a vendor of LMS software without putting an onus on Council members to find out by searching the internet. It might influence peoples decision to vote for him either positively or negatively.

But lets say I ran my own coaching business and I felt that it was not fairly considered by the Junior Director because of his role in the UKCC. Or if I felt the International Director was unfairly overlooking me for International selection because I own a rival book store. What should I do? Contact the governance committee?

Roger Lancaster
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Re: ECF Governance and conflict of interests

Post by Roger Lancaster » Sun Jul 11, 2021 1:41 pm

Paul Cooksey wrote:
Sun Jul 11, 2021 1:08 pm
I think if John was standing for Membership Director he should say he is a vendor of LMS software without putting an onus on Council members to find out by searching the internet. It might influence peoples decision to vote for him either positively or negatively.

But lets say I ran my own coaching business and I felt that it was not fairly considered by the Junior Director because of his role in the UKCC. Or if I felt the International Director was unfairly overlooking me for International selection because I own a rival book store. What should I do? Contact the governance committee?
Conflicts of interest aren't, of course, unique to chess. Contacting the governance committee probably isn't a solution because, other than in cases where someone's decision has been blatantly influenced by other interests, people can generally find arguments to justify their decisions. Conflicts of interest can, moreover, work in both directions. Consider a selector who has to choose between two juniors with more or less identical records, one of whom he knows personally. S/he has to make a choice but, if that choice is the junior whom s/he knows, there's the risk of being accused of being unduly influenced by this - but it's equally 'unfair' to reverse the process and choose the other junior instead.

More broadly, I would suggest there are sufficiently few chess players prepared to step up and do some work so that, if one eliminated everyone who could be said to have a conflict of interests, many posts would be left unfilled and many activities would abruptly cease.

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Re: ECF Governance and conflict of interests

Post by Paul Cooksey » Sun Jul 11, 2021 1:46 pm

Roger Lancaster wrote:
Sun Jul 11, 2021 1:41 pm
More broadly, I would suggest there are sufficiently few chess players prepared to step up and do some work so that, if one eliminated everyone who could be said to have a conflict of interests, many posts would be left unfilled and many activities would abruptly cease.
I agree with this strongly, and said something similar in another thread.

But I want to be able to rely on a Governance committee, either the existing one, or some new model as proposed by the EJCOA. Because if it is an ineffective mechanism to resolve disputes, I don't see anything else. Except perhaps a model where we don't expect people to be neutral, which is possible, but does not appeal to me.

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Re: ECF Governance and conflict of interests

Post by David Sedgwick » Sun Jul 11, 2021 3:18 pm

NickFaulks wrote:
Sun Jul 11, 2021 12:07 pm
Paul Cooksey wrote:
Sun Jul 11, 2021 11:44 am
But I am wondering about whether candidates should be asked or even required to declare their roles in other chess organisations, and whether they are paid?
All ECF Directors, plus ( rather on the fringe ) the Finance and Governance Committees, have to do that. Their declared interests are listed on the website.

Yes, I would extend this to Member Reps.

During an election period candidates for election have to declare their interests. This too could be extended to consideration for election as Member Representatives.

Is anyone responsible for monitoring these declarations? I presume that only relevant interests have to be declared, but is that an entirely subjective process?

I can identify at least one instance where someone has declared interests of a certain kind, but another person has not. I am not saying that the latter person is wrong, but I do say that someone should be responsible for ensuring consistency, or at least seeking it.

(Note to ECF Directors and Officers: I know that you cannot reply on here. Please contact me off-board if you would like any details.)

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Re: ECF Governance and conflict of interests

Post by Angus French » Sun Jul 11, 2021 3:48 pm

Paul Cooksey wrote:
Sun Jul 11, 2021 1:46 pm
Roger Lancaster wrote:
Sun Jul 11, 2021 1:41 pm
More broadly, I would suggest there are sufficiently few chess players prepared to step up and do some work so that, if one eliminated everyone who could be said to have a conflict of interests, many posts would be left unfilled and many activities would abruptly cease.
I agree with this strongly, and said something similar in another thread.

But I want to be able to rely on a Governance committee, either the existing one, or some new model as proposed by the EJCOA. Because if it is an ineffective mechanism to resolve disputes, I don't see anything else. Except perhaps a model where we don't expect people to be neutral, which is possible, but does not appeal to me.
But it shouldn't be difficult to find people without conflicts of interest who are willing to be members' reps, should it? I'm counting a role in a local league or involvement in a local congress as not constituting a conflict.

BTW, I think the role of the Governance Committee is being misperceived. It is not, as I understand it (and I was once a member of the GC), to resolve conflicts or deal with complaints. Rather, it's to ensure top-level processes and procedures are in place and of sufficient quality to ensure good governance.

Paul Cooksey
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Re: ECF Governance and conflict of interests

Post by Paul Cooksey » Sun Jul 11, 2021 3:53 pm

Angus French wrote:
Sun Jul 11, 2021 3:48 pm
But it shouldn't be difficult to find people without conflicts of interest who are willing to be members' reps, should it?
Maybe, but I think the reverse is true for Directors.

NickFaulks
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Re: ECF Governance and conflict of interests

Post by NickFaulks » Sun Jul 11, 2021 4:12 pm

Angus French wrote:
Sun Jul 11, 2021 3:48 pm
But it shouldn't be difficult to find people without conflicts of interest who are willing to be members' reps, should it?
Gold members have had to resort to a moonlighting ECF Director.
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Michael Farthing
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Re: ECF Governance and conflict of interests

Post by Michael Farthing » Sun Jul 11, 2021 5:49 pm

Constitutionally, the hearing of complaints does not fall within the remit of the Governance Committee. There have been a few occasions when this has been considered as a possibility but the advice from the committee itself is more likely to be to use the existing complaints procedure.

However, the current complaints procedure might well be improved - sadly it is very difficult to produce something that can cover the wide variety of situations that arise (and which often have not even been thought of until they actually occur).

[Posted after consultation with my colleagues on the Governance Committee]

Paul Cooksey
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Re: ECF Governance and conflict of interests

Post by Paul Cooksey » Mon Jul 12, 2021 8:31 am

Thanks Michael.

After my earlier blunder I've been reading the ECF documents. I don't see the definition of the governance committee in Regulation 2. Is it somewhere else?

IN passing, I note that the way I am using conflict of interest is different to what I see in the official documents. So I will try to be more precise when I have thought about it.

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Re: ECF Governance and conflict of interests

Post by Paul McKeown » Mon Jul 12, 2021 10:18 pm

Roger Lancaster wrote:
Sun Jul 11, 2021 1:41 pm
Consider a selector who has to choose between two juniors with more or less identical records, one of whom he knows personally. S/he has to make a choice but, if that choice is the junior whom s/he knows, there's the risk of being accused of being unduly influenced by this - but it's equally 'unfair' to reverse the process and choose the other junior instead.
Surely the correct procedure for the selector is to recuse themselves from the process in such a case?

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