Meet the Simply Certification Impartiality Committee
Simply Certification is delighted to welcome the members of our Impartiality committee.
As a certification body, we are required to have an impartiality mechanism in place to safeguard impartiality.
Our members are highly experienced business professionals from a wide range of backgrounds, specially selected to offer depth and breadth of knowledge and skills to ensure that Simply Certification continues to deliver the high levels of customer care and impartiality within our regulated environment.
Meet our Impartiality Committee
Claire Riley, Executive Director of Corporate Governance, Communications and Involvement, North East and North Cumbria ICB (NHS).
Claire has an impressive and exceptional career within corporate affairs, business strategy and communications, leading multi award-winning teams within both public and private sector.
Before taking up her role at the Integrated Care Board, Claire was the executive director of communications and corporate affairs at Northumbria Healthcare for 12 years.
Prior to this she was director of communications for the North East Strategic Health Authority where she joined in 2007 having over 20 years private sector experience.
Her skills and knowledge around corporate governance and compliance are of a huge value to Simply Certification.
Stephen Dunn – People and Compliance Director, Commercial Maintenance Services UK Limited
With a career spanning almost 30 years within law enforcement, compliance, HR and engineering, Stephen brings a wealth of experience to Simply Certification and is one of our original members of the impartiality committee.
Responsible for over 140 team members and leading the way within people management and compliance for a national facilities maintenance provider, Stephen brings great skills to the table around resourcing.
Andrew Champion, Managing Director, Jarion
Andrew has spent most of his career in various insurance roles, in volume as well as large commercial insurance and on both the underwriting and broking sides of the industry.
Most recently he was Managing Director of Towergate’s North West office which involved overseeing the business on a journey from a small local organisation to part of the largest independent broker in the UK.
He has hands-on experience of most aspects of business management including sales and marketing, finance, HR, business transformation, conduct and operations.
Andrew’s expertise is an invaluable part of our ability to ensure we are meeting our requirements around compliance and impartiality.
Tyron Stalberg, Bid Director, Vinci Facilities
An experienced housing and construction professional having worked on both the client side and for service providers Tyron has an in-depth understanding around Retrofit, one of Simply’s key offering of certification.
Tyron provides informed perspectives on the procurement and delivery of Housing Management, Asset Management and Construction functions gained through senior posts.
A big advocate of collaborative working practice and partnering he is also an active member of the Alliance Steering Group and other membership bodies.
Lyndsey Gates Compliance and Operations Manager, Simply Certification
The only member of the Impartiality Committee from Simply Certification, Lyndsey’s role is to coordinate the committee and ensure that the outputs are fed back into the business.
One of Lyndsey’s key objectives within Simply Certification is to safeguard impartiality of Simply Certification through the implementation and management of our robust Management System which meets the standard of ISO 17065 (UKAS accredited) and ISO 17021 (Soon to be under application with UKAS).
Alex Gates, Managing Director of Simply Certification says:
“We are delighted to welcome such a diverse and highly-respected Impartiality committee to Simply Certification. The committee brings together a wealth of talent from across the UK, with a strong skill set across various business functions. It will help us to grow our offering within the compliance setting, without compromising any of the service and customer care levels that our stakeholders have come to expect.”
Impartiality Committee spokesperson Claire Riley says:
“I am delighted to be involved in such a forward-thinking and customer-led certification body as Simply Certification. They are deeply committed to providing a quality service across all of the standards they certify against and want to continue to offer market-leading certification services to better support the growth of built environment and decarbonisation companies across the UK. We will ensure that they continue to do this in a compliant and customer-centric way.
Impartiality is key to ensuring trust and confidence in the certification process. I am delighted to be part of the impartiality committee for Simply Certification, one of the leading certification services in the UK.”
Impartiality Committee spokesperson Andrew Champion says:
“Being a member of Simply Certification’s Impartiality Committee has allowed me to observe at close quarters their commitment to impartiality in the way they conduct the business.
It’s a pivotal time for the construction industry around energy efficiency, particularly for the retrofit of existing building stock. It’s vital that we ensure the supply chain is not only growing, but growing with high quality resource and part of this is to ensure assessments and certification services are delivered with the highest degree of integrity.”
What is an Impartiality Committee?
An impartiality committee is a governing body within a certification body that oversees and ensures the impartiality of the certification process.
Our board is composed of individuals who are a balanced representation of interested parties, impartial to our business. They have expertise in areas such as ethics, compliance, governance, and stakeholder representation and ensure we are providing a consistent and impartial approach to our certification activities and ensure that there is confidence that the certificates we issue are done in an impartial way.
How often do they meet/ How it works
Our Impartiality committee meet quarterly to discuss a pre-agreed agenda.
Simply Certification presents the committee with data about our business. This includes impartiality risks, data, partnerships, complaints and appeals and new products and services so that they can comment on the risks to impartiality.
These are discussed and documented within the Simply Certification Management System which can then be reviewed by the senior management team and action any points raised as well as being made readily available to UKAS when required during their audits.
Our Impartiality committee is responsible for:
Monitoring Impartiality
Our board oversees the certification process to ensure that it remains free from bias, conflicts of interest, or undue influence from internal or external parties.
Setting Policies and Procedures
Our board will be responsible for agreeing our policies and procedures that promote impartiality throughout the certification process, including criteria for auditor selection, conflict of interest management, and handling complaints or appeals related to impartiality concerns.
Risk Assessment and Management
The board will review potential risks to impartiality and provide ideas for strategies to mitigate these risks effectively. This may involve reviewing our audits, certification activities, and reviewing the measures we want to implement to identify risks.
Reviewing Decisions
In the rare event that impartiality issues arise, the board may review decisions made by the certification body and provide guidance on how to address any concerns or conflicts.
Stakeholder Engagement
Our board will engage with stakeholders such as clients, regulators, and industry representatives to ensure that their perspectives are considered in maintaining impartiality when necessary.
Training and Awareness
Our board may also evaluate training programs for staff and auditors to raise awareness of impartiality requirements and ensure compliance with relevant standards and regulations.
What is the purpose of the Impartiality Committee?
We very much see our board as providing a crucial role in upholding the integrity and credibility of the certification process by providing independent oversight and guidance on impartiality-related matters.
Certification bodies, which are organisations responsible for assessing whether products, services, or systems meet certain standards or requirements, need to maintain impartiality to ensure the credibility and integrity of our certification processes. An impartiality committee plays a crucial role in upholding this impartiality.
Maintaining Credibility and Trustworthiness
Impartiality is essential for ensuring that the certification process is fair and unbiased.
Stakeholders, including businesses seeking certification, consumers relying on certified products/services, and regulatory bodies, must have confidence in our certification process.
An impartiality committee helps us to demonstrate our commitment to maintaining fairness and objectivity.
Avoiding Conflicts of Interest
As we add more products and services here at Simply Certification, we may face potential conflicts of interest due to various factors such as financial interests, personal relationships, or industry pressures.
Our impartiality committee helps identify and manage these conflicts by providing oversight and guidance on decision-making processes.
Compliance with Standards and Regulation
We operate within regulatory frameworks and adhere to national and international standards (e.g ISO/PAS).
These standards require us to demonstrate impartiality in our operations. Having an impartiality committee helps us to fulfil these obligations.
Risk Management
Our impartiality committee helps assess and mitigate risks by providing oversight of potential threats to impartiality and implementing measures to address them effectively.
Continuous Improvement
As part of our own continuous improvement, our board will evaluate our procedures, identify areas for improvement and ensure that we follow best practices. This proactive approach will help us to stay operationally effective in a constantly evolving landscape.
