Agenda item

(To receive a report from Matt Drury (Principal Investigator) which provides an update on fraud investigation activities and information on progress made against our Counter Fraud Work Plan 2020/21)

Consideration was given to a report which provided an update on fraud investigation activities and information on progress made against the Council's Counter Fraud Work Plan 2020/21.

The Committee was advised that the report covered the six months to 30 September 2020 and the first six months of this year had brought some unprecedented times and challenges, fraudsters tended to prey on this kind of uncertainty and vulnerability, and the risks of fraud were raised.  Therefore the Council has had to respond accordingly to ensure fraud controls were maintained and applied.

Despite the circumstances, the Council had been able to deliver numerous areas of proactive counter fraud work including updating the fraud risk register, submission of data for the National Fraud Initiative exercise, been able to review the internal arrangements.  Regular communications had taken place.  The Team was now involved in post-Covid-19 fraud reviews of key risk areas and would report back to the Committee in the annual report.  It was felt that despite the challenging times the report demonstrated that Lincolnshire County Council had a robust response to fraud.

Members were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained in the report and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         Members commented that they were pleased to see that as the risk and covid-19 situation had changed the approach had changed and this came through clearly in the report.  It was also commented that it could be seen that a good proportion of the work had been completed and the rest was ongoing.

·         In terms of the Senior Leadership Team briefings that remained outstanding, it was reported that it was the intention to carry them out later in the year, and liaison was taking place with the risk owners.

·         It was commented that the Council was now in new territory with large numbers of staff working from home, and it was queried whether there were any emerging potential frauds associated with such remote working.  Officers advised that a spike in fraud had not been noticed (either locally or nationally) due to the changed circumstances of working.  It was highlighted that disciplinary procedures had recently been updated and a lot of work had been carried out with managers including awareness training and ensuring there was appropriate supervision of staff.

·         It was queried whether officers were comfortable that the types of fraud being reported the previous year were reducing, and also whether the move to remote working had affected the control of data and the authority's ability to detect data loss.  Members were advised that when an investigation was carried out, a report and action plan would be produced and any actions would be passed onto the relevant managers, and then a review would also be carried out.  There was confidence that resources were directed in the right areas.

·         It was queried whether there was other councillor involvement in counter fraud work, for example if there was a specific executive member responsible for fraud.  The Committee were advised that the counter fraud champion was Councillor Maughan.  It was suggested that officers could work with Councillor Maughan to explore the best way to engage with councillors more proactively around counter fraud work. 

·         The process and measures put in place to support the Council's contractors through any financial hardships being experienced due to the Covid-19 pandemic was outlined to the Committee.

RESOLVED

            That the outcomes of the Counter Fraud work be noted.