Decision details

To review any changes recommended to the Policy and to note details of fraud/whistle-blowing activity for the period 1 April 2014 – 31 March 2015.

The committee received a report from the Principal Auditor regarding the annual report on the Prevention of Fraud & Corruption Policy.

In response to members’ questions the Principal Auditor, Benefits Manager and the Chief Executive said the following:

i.             Regarding investigations into Council Tax discounts, the amounts recovered were quite small but the number of cases was large.

ii.            At any given time there was approximately 8400 benefit claims, the numbers of fraud involved were small but some were of high value.

iii.           There was a two pronged approach for investigations, there was a robust approach for checking applications and the claim would be monitored for error and fraud during the period of the claim.

iv.          The Whistleblowing procedure was in place to allow officers to raise concerns about possible corruption in the Council.  The risks of both fraud and corruption would be covered as part of the action in the Annual governance Statement to review fraud risks facing the Council.

v.           The risk of corruption was also mitigated through a number of checks and balances during the course of the Council’s procurement processes it was not just about waiting for people to point out fraud and/or corruption.

Resolved (unanimously) to:

i.             Approve the changes recommended to the Policy at Appendix 1

ii.            Note the details of the fraud-whistleblowing activity provided for in the 1 April 2014 – 31 March 2015 in section 3 of the report.