Organisations have been recognised for signing up to the Voluntary Code of Good Governance for the sport and recreation sector at the Sport and Recreation Alliance’s Leadership Convention in Warwickshire last week, which was themed around building high performance.
The initiative was coordinated by the Sport and Recreation Alliance and has been driven and created by the sector, for the sector. It is designed to help organisations aspire to and maintain good governance, and to assist boards of sport and recreation organisations to perform their roles.
Jane Nickerson, Chief Operating Officer of ASA and British Swimming said: "Signing up to the code provided us with the impetus for a thorough and continuous review of governance throughout all levels of our sport to ensure we are working and continue to work within a well balanced, inclusive framework with standards and ideals based on ensuring accountability and good stewardship."
The Voluntary Code of Good Governance, otherwise known as the Code, lists seven principles of good governance for sport and recreation organisations and provides practical considerations and thinking points for boards to explore.
It was created in response the Deloitte Investing in Change report, recommending the offering of one clear vision of governance for the sector, and The Dutton Inquiry, which recommended that sport and recreation organisations needed to take ownership of their governance in a positive way if they wanted to resist further regulation.
Joy Tottman, Governance and Compliance Officer at the Sport and Recreation Alliance said: "We are encouraging organisations to sign up to the Code as a way of demonstrating as an organisation they are taking ownership of improving and maintaining good governance. If organisations have not signed-up yet we urge them to sign-up soon, to demonstrate to stakeholders that good governance in sport and recreation organisations is a shared goal of the whole sector."
To sign up to the Code, an organisation needs to:
• discuss and approve the Code in a board meeting
• include the Code as an objective in its strategic plan
• assign an individual to take responsibility for the Code
• return the Alliance’s ‘We Sign Up to the Code’ form.
Support frameworks and toolkits are being developed to help organisations assess how well they are doing in relation to each principle, and will be available on the Alliance’s website.
Find out who has already signed up to the code.
Find out more and sign up to the Code.
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