Agenda item

To consider the Fraud Risk Strategy and associated work streams. 

14.1          The report of the Counter Fraud and Enforcement Unit Head of Service, circulated at Pages No. 143-173, attached, at Appendix 1, the new Fraud Risk Strategy which had been developed for implementation across the Counter Fraud Partnership.  Members were asked to consider the strategy and its associated workstreams.

14.2          The Counter Fraud and Enforcement Unit Head of Service advised that fraud was the most common crime in the UK and cost many billions of pounds to private companies, individuals and the public sector.  The Counter Fraud and Enforcement Unit had developed a Fraud Risk Strategy, attached at Appendix 1, which set out the definitions and motivations for fraud and the principles of risk management as well as outlining the high risk areas that local government was susceptible to; historically the focus had been on benefit fraud.  Annexed to the strategy, and attached to the report as Appendices 2 and 3, were the Fighting Fraud and Corruption Locally and the Government Functional Standard GovS 013 checklists which set out best practice recommendations – these would be completed by the Counter Fraud and Enforcement Unit in consultation with the Corporate Governance Group to inform areas for improvement or for inclusion on the work plan.  In addition, the Counter Fraud and Enforcement Unit would implement a series of service area reviews to identify specific fraud risks within each Council service area and a service specific risk register would then be developed which could be monitored.  This was quite a big piece of work and it was intended to focus on high risk service areas first i.e. procurement, revenues and benefits and housing.

14.3           A Member drew attention to the Government Functional Standard GovS 013 Checklist, attached at Appendix 3 to the report, which posed a series of questions and she asked if she was right to presume that the answer to these was ‘yes’.  The Counter Fraud and Enforcement Unit Head of Service confirmed that was correct and she explained that the answers would be specific to each authority – she was reluctant to publish them as this would give information on the methods being used to tackle fraud.  She confirmed that a checklist had been completed to give assurance to the Council and if any further action was needed it could be included on the work plan.  The Member drew attention to Page No. 167 of the report which referenced training and asked how many Councillors had attended cyber security training. The Head of Corporate Services indicated that a training session had been run via Teams and he believed around 12 Members had attended.  The Member indicated that when she had looked it appeared that only two Members had completed the training.  The Head of Corporate Services advised that a presentation had also been given to Transform Working Group which would have captured more Members.  It was intended to roll out an e-module on GDPR and cyber security following the Borough Council elections in May 2023 with the aim being 100% take-up.  The Counter Fraud and Enforcement Unit Head of Service indicated that the Counter Fraud and Enforcement Unit had updated its presentation on fraud awareness for the authorities which had recently had local elections and she undertook to circulate this to Members for information.

14.4           It was

RESOLVED          That the Counter Fraud and Enforcement Unit Fraud Risk Strategy be NOTED.