Decision details

Mr Chris Williams, Head of Internal Audit at RSM, the Council’s internal auditors attended the meeting to present the Annual Fraud Report. It had been resolved at its meeting on 10 May 2018 that an annual fraud report be brought to the July 2018 meeting of the Corporate Governance Group for approval (Minute No.45 2017/18). The purpose of this report was to provide an overview of general and specific fraud related issues that had arisen at the Council during 2017/18.

It was noted that in carrying out its functions and responsibilities Rushcliffe Borough Council was firmly committed to dealing with fraud or corruption and that it would deal equally with attempted and perpetrated fraud or corruption from inside or outside the Council. Mr Williams advised that the Council did not have a dedicated fraud prevention resource; however, it was the responsibility of managers as part of the internal control environment to identify fraud and if required, request RSM as the internal auditors to investigate any allegations of fraud. It was also noted that RSM in the course of their audits may also identify any fraud.

Mr Williams advised that the Council encouraged all individuals to raise any concerns that they had about the conduct of others within the Council via a whistleblowing policy which applied to all employees and those contractors working for the Council on Council premises, for example, agency staff. It was noted that there had been no whistleblowing concerns reported during 2017/18. It was noted that the National Fraud Initiative (NFI) was a data matching exercise that matched electronic data within and between public and private sector bodies to prevent and detect fraud. The officer’s report provided information  errors and fraud for Housing benefit awards, localised Council Tax support awards, taxi and alcohol licences, Council payroll records and Council Tax single person awards. It was noted that while no fraudulent activities had been detected there had been a number of errors found.  The Executive Manager - Finance and Corporate Services advised that action was being taken to recover the housing benefit overpayments that had been made. Mr Williams advised that two allegations of fraud  had been made during 2017/18 with subsequent Investigations being undertaken by management and for the one incident of fraud that had been identified members were reassured that control mechanisms had been improved to avoid any similar occurrence happening in the future.

Councillor Davidson asked whether the amounts of Council Tax single person discounts found to be erroneous were over or under payments. Mr Williams advised that the figures in the officer’s report were net figures. The Chairman asked in the absence of dedicated staff resource for fraud detection what processes were in place to enable suspected fraud to be reported and investigated. The Executive Manager advised that procedures were in place for the reporting and investigation of fraud. Members of the Group also asked several specific questions about the figures in the report.

The Chairman and members of the Group thanked Mr Williams for attending the meeting and for answering their questions.

It was RESOLVED that the report be noted.