Issue - meetings

The Report of the Executive Manager – Finance and Corporate Services is attached.

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 benefits awards and council tax single person discounts.  It was noted that while no fraudulent activities had been detected there had been a number of errors found.

The Group asked several specific questions regarding the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) corruption tracker summary report for 2018. It was explained that only national statistics had been provided as no evidence of fraud had been identified at a local level. It was noted that if a member of staff had any suspicion of fraud being committed it would need to be reported to the Chief Executive. The Executive Manager – Finance and Corporate Services clarified 730 matches were reviewed by DWP and that out of the 350 matches that had been reviewed by the Council, 18 had been identified for further investigation.

It was RESOLVED that the Annual Fraud Report for 2018/19 be noted.