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Agenda item

CFEU Update Report

Purpose:

To provide the Committee with assurance over the counter fraud activities of the Council and to update the Committee in relation to the areas of fraud risk mitigation.  Direct updates will continue to be provided biannually.

To present the Committee with an updated Fraud Risk Strategy 2025, Fraud Compliance Report and Fraud Response Plan, so that they may consider the approach taken by the Counter Fraud and Enforcement Unit Partnership (‘the CFEU’) as the body charged with governance in this area.

To provide assurance to the Committee that the risks of fraud committed against the Council are recognised, managed and mitigated in accordance with Council priorities, and changing fraud trends.

 

Recommendation:

That the Audit and Governance Committee resolves to:

1.    Note the report and attachments Fraud Risk Strategy 2025, Fraud Compliance Report and Fraud Response Plan which are appended at Annex A, B and C respectively.

 

Minutes:

The purpose of the report was to provide the Committee with assurance over the counter fraud activities of the Council and to update the Committee in relation to the areas of fraud risk mitigation. Direct updates would continue to be provided biannually. In addition, the purpose was to present the Committee with an updated Fraud Risk Strategy 2025, Fraud Compliance Report and Fraud Response Plan, so that they could consider the approach taken by the CFEU Partnership in this area. Finally, the report provided assurance to the Committee that the risks of fraud committed against the Council were recognised, managed and mitigated in accordance with Council priorities, and changing fraud trends.

 

Emma Cathcart, Head of Service, Counter Fraud and Enforcement Unit (CFEU), introduced the report and highlighted the following points:

 

  • The report showed information about bigger strategic projects on areas identified as fraud risks.
  • An updated Fraud Risk Strategy was presented to the Committee.
  • A new Fraud Response Plan had been introduced along with guidance for staff on how to act when there were suspicions of fraud.
  • The Fraud Compliance Report included a completed assessment that listed where the Authority was compliant. Where it was considered not compliant the required actions were detailed in the report.
  • It was noted that an area of non-compliance within the report was with regard to portfolio holder updates. However, the view of the Officer was that the reports should not go to the Portfolio holder in isolation as the report effected all Members. Therefore, it was suggested that all Executive Members would be briefed in future to coincide with reports being presented to the Audit and Governance Committee.
  • One of the areas of risk from last year had been grants. The Grants Management Policy had now been drafted and was in the final stage of consultation. In addition, a supporting toolkit had been produced for staff.
  • The recent prosecution of a member of staff with undeclared secondary employment was discussed. The prosecution demonstrated that the Council’s internal approach to fraud matched their external approach, and this was an important message for public confidence.
  • In the coming year there would be more work around procurement risks and further reports and updates would be brought to the Committee on this area.

 

Councillor Alex Wilson joined the meeting at 6:16 pm.

 

In the discussion the following points were raised:

 

  • A Councillor asked which factors could impact the decision to pursue a case of fraud. The Officer advised that consideration was given to the public interest test, the evidence for prosecution, the damage of the fraud and the funding available.
  • The Officer was asked to give more detail around the use data analytics as it currently had a status of “not compliant” on the Fraud Compliance Report. In their response the Officer noted that at present the Council could not be compliant in this area as it did not have software to undertake data analytics. However, it was noted that the Council was part of national data matching exercises. In addition, there was a Central Government analytic programme around fraud that may be rolled out for LGA use.
  • A Councillor asked for more detail on contractors and third parties sign up to the Whistleblowing Policy, an area that was listed as “not compliant” on the Fraud Compliance Report. It was confirmed that contractors do have access to the Whistleblowing Policy, but more communication was required to draw their attention to this.
  • It was confirmed that more work was to be completed in the area of recruitment vetting, which was presently only “partially compliant” on the Fraud Compliance Report. This area was acknowledged to be a growing area of fraud risk that required additional checks, in particular with the rise in the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in applications for roles.

 

Resolved: The Audit and Governance Committee noted the report, Fraud Risk Strategy 2025, Fraud Compliance Report and Fraud Response Plan.

Supporting documents:

 

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