Agenda item

(To receive a report by Dianne Downs (Team Leader – Counter Fraud and Investigations), which provides information on the overall effectiveness of the Authority's arrangements to counter fraud and corruption and reviews the delivery of the 2019/20 counter fraud work plan)

Consideration was given to a report presented by the Head of Internal Audit and Risk Management which provided information on the overall effectiveness of the authority's arrangements to counter fraud and corruption and reviewed the delivery of the 2019/20 counter fraud work plan.

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

·         In relation to p.144 of the agenda pack, it was highlighted that the level of funds recovered was £124k but in the Annual Report the figure was £114k.  It was clarified that the figure for 2019/20 was £114k

·         In terms of the benchmarking of data, which was acknowledged was difficult due to the different risk profiles of different organisations, it was queried how extensive were the counter fraud teams of authorities around the country.  Members were advised that not all authorities had a dedicated counter fraud team.  Lincolnshire had had an established team since around 2010.  Data was benchmarked against the CIPFA code of practice.

·         There had been some pro-active staff, particularly around identifying fraudulent claims in relation to Covid-19.

·         It was noted that counter fraud was not a mandatory activity, and in terms of best practice, Lincolnshire County Council had been recognised on a number of occasions.  The County Council had also been credited in a number of case studies as examples of delivering good practice.

·         It was queried where it was thought the vulnerabilities were in relation to fraud around Covid-19.  Members were advised that the Finance  Team had done a lot of work around due diligence and where the authority was passporting funding, that it was appropriate and there were a reasonable level of controls in place.  It was also planned to re-examine the counter fraud plan and look at the fraud risk register around Covid-19.  It was also noted that the government was sharing intelligence where there had been a spike in fraud and scams.  There was also co-ordinated work taking place within the council with Trading Standards.

·         The government had previously highlighted that there was a heightened risk of fraud during emergency situations.  Unusual payments were being reviewed and the Counter Fraud Team was working closely with Business Support.  It was noted that there was a current live investigation following proactive work with payments analysis.

·         It was commented that 87% of the fraud plan had been completed, and it was queried whether there was an issue with resources being made available to the Team.  It was acknowledged that the Team did have stretch targets, as it was a high performing team.  The areas of the plan that were not competed were regarding policy updates which were due to be completed in February 2020, however the Team had to respond to the developing emergency situation.

·         It was highlighted that expenses fraud was an area that officers had particular concerns about, but the increase in referrals had not come from awareness work, but from managers identifying claims and officers had been working with HR colleagues.

·         In terms of social care and financial abuse, it was more likely the risk would be to the service user than the council directly.  It was noted that a lot of pro-active work was carried out in this area, and the Team worked with Trading Standards and the Police to raise awareness of scams.

·         Officers were congratulated for a thorough report and for the hard work of the Team.

·         It was confirmed that a report could be brought back to a meeting later in the year which updated the Committee on how the emergency was responded to and how the additional money received from government was spread between directorates. 

RESOLVED

            That the overall effectiveness of the Council's arrangements to counter fraud and corruption and the progress made to implement policy be noted.