Agenda item

To receive an update on anti-fraud activity, including baseline risk assessments and actions.

Lizzie Watkin (Assistant Director Finance and Deputy S151) presented a report on anti-fraud activity. The officer stated that this was the first update of its kind that the Committee had received in a very long time. It supported progress and gave updates in base risk exposure to fraud. It also covered aspects of the Anti-Fraud, Bribery and Corruption policy approved by the Committee in April 2022.

Base line risk assessments were part of governance arrangements and were about assessing that we had policies, a framework and best practise in place. The assessments were made against best practise as detailed in section 7 of the report. SWAP undertook the baseline assessments and Appendix B (page 75) set out red and amber risks, recommendations made, actions, lead officer and the implantation date for each one. This was a key part of mitigation against fraud and ensured good governance and financial control. 

The Chairman as lead Member for anti-fraud, requested that the Committee receive updates on this at least annually.

In response to questions, the officer explained that there was no regulatory requirement to do this. It was about best practise and protecting the public purse, the policy was the backbone. The Council had signed up to CIFAS, the UK’s fraud prevention community. Teams with a higher risk of exposure to fraud had also had a session with CIFAS. In regard to Covid-19 business grants, they were awarded according to government criteria. Some post payment and pre-payment fraud checks were undertaken. Deloitte confirmed that they would be looking at business grants as part of the 2020/21 audit. 

In response to a question regarding risk 2a (page 75) and whether there was awareness, the officer stated that service managers were notified after the policy was approved. The officer was sharing the 3 policies with the Corporate Leadership Team (CLT) along with bullet points so that they could actively cascade to teams. There would also be targeted training with officers. There was awareness but it needed to be increased. Members requested that the outcome of the review of the corporate risk register was shared with them when ready.

In regard to risk 6a (page 78), which Members queried, the officer confirmed that there would be other councils who had mechanisms. The issue was the policy landscape. All investigations went through the SWAP anti-fraud team, but there may be other types of investigation that should be included. As more data was captured it was hoped that the gap could be closed.

There was a discussion regarding academies, which covered who was responsible for them; land owned by the local authority which was now on long lease to academies; risk to the council as landlord; what happened if the schools got into financial trouble; fraud effecting schools; what happened when schools covert to academies and their governance arrangements.

It was explained that there are various types of schools, Community Schools and Voluntary Controlled Schools were maintained schools, or local authority schools. Schools which were not local authority run were Academies, Voluntary Aided Schools and Foundation Schools.

Academies governed themselves, they were run by a board of trustees or governors. Often academies grouped together and were run by Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs). They were separate from the local authority and were regulated and audited. There were still links to the Council but responsibility for finance, fraud risk, decisions and governance sat with the board of the academy.

The Schools Forum, which was a public meeting was highlighted as a meeting members may wish to attend to gain a better understanding of how things worked.     

It was also suggested that Members may wish to have a training session or update covering this topic, including the risk environment in schools.

At the conclusion of the debate, it was,

Resolved:

·       That the Audit and Governance Committee note the update on anti-fraud risk.

·       That the Committee would like annual updates on anti-fraud risk.