Issue - meetings

The committee received a report from the Head of Internal Audit regarding the Annual Report on the Prevention of Fraud and Corruption Policy.

In response to members’ questions the Head of Internal Audit and the Fraud Team Leader, said the following:

     i.        Various audits were undertaken through the year to look at areas of corruption such as contracts. A working group had been set up to look at fraud and corruption across Cambridge as part of the Serious Organised Crime audits.

    ii.        In total there had been seven special investigations in 2016/17 which contrasted to the usual two or three that were usually undertaken annually which has implications for audit coverage. It was however too early to say if there were any emerging trends.

   iii.        The Revenue and Benefits department had identified in the first part of 2017/18 an increase in irregularities concerning exemption and discount of council tax compared the previous year.

  iv.        Social housing fraud was currently on par with 2016/17 which had seen a rise compared to previous years in Cambridge.

   v.        While it had been reported there had been a rise in exemption and discount for council tax and social housing fraud statistically the figures were still very low.

  vi.        Campaigns were being planned for both staff and residents on how to identify fraud.

 vii.        The electoral register was republished annually and used against various data sets to cross check information.

viii.        Cambridge City Council employed a total of three officers working in the fraud team supplemented by Internal Audit. In comparison, South Cambridgeshire District Council had recently created a licensing / fraud team of four officers; Fenland East Cambridgeshire District Councils used outside agencies and Peterborough had one officer as they do not have housing stock, but supplemented by Internal Audit; while Huntingdon District Council had their own internal fraud hub.

Councillor McPherson congratulated the Fraud Prevention Team’s nomination for the ‘Mentor of the Year’ award in the Apprentice and Employer Apprenticeship Awards event 2016; and thanked the Fraud Prevention Team for their hard work in over the last financial year