| 271 | RECORD OF THE MEETING |
| | | The record of the meeting held on 5 May 2004 was signed by the Chairman as correct. |
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| 272 | APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE |
| | | Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Brice. |
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| 273 | BENEFIT OVERPAYMENTS |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Assistant Director, Financial Management, introduced a report that provided members with information on benefit overpayments and how they arose and what processes were avaiilable to exercise recovery. This information had been requested at the previous sub-committee meeting in May.
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| Members considered the policy statement attached to the report, which set out the circumstances in which overpayments might arise, and the procedures for the effective administration of their recovery, including the circumstances and actions where that recovery was not possible or merited.
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| Members recognised that the relationship between overpayments raised, the subsidy allowed by Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) for categories of overpayment, recovery and the changes in workload and legislation, was not simple and warranted a more detailed overview. It was therefore agreed that the Assistant Director, Financial Management would arrange a briefing session for members of the sub-committee on this issue.
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| | > Benefit overpayments (pdf file 34.0kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | | (a) | Members noted the policy for overpayment recovery.
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| | (b) | Members accepted the invitation of the Assistant Director, Financial Management, for a detailed briefing on the nature of overpayments, the recovery achieved and the subsidy impact.
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| 274 | HOUSING AND COUNCIL TAX BENEFIT INVESTIGATIONS |
| | Discussion: |
| | | Members considered the report of the Audit Services Manager in respect of the progress in investigating allegations of housing and council tax benefit fraud during the period April to early September 2004. In response to members' previous concerns regarding the Magistrates' Courts sentencing policy, the Audit Services Manager advised that representatives from the Magistrates' Court would be willing to attend a future meeting to discuss this issue with members.
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| During consideration of this matter members asked for more detailed information in respect of the outcomes of investigations, to better inform their discussion with the Magistrates' Court representatives.
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| The sub-committee discussed in depth the mechanisms in place to flag up whether a claimant had previously been cautioned, fined or prosecuted. The sub-committee was informed that the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) maintained a national database in respect of this information although access to the system was very tightly controlled.
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| Members were advised that the Audit Commission embarked on a National Fraud Initiative every two years which matched data with payroll, housing benefits and housing rents and reported its findings back to the authority. The sub-committee asked officers to write to the Audit Commission to ask whether this information could be matched against DWP's fraud database and the findings reported to Medway. Members were of the opinion that, although there would not be any presumption of guilt if matches were identified, it would help target limited investigatory resources to greater potential risks.
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| | > Housing and Council Tax Benefit Investigations (pdf file 23.3kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | | (a) | Members noted progress in implementing Medway Council's prosecution policy.
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| | (b) | Officers were asked to invite representatives from the Magistrates' Court to the meeting on 27 January 2005.
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| | (c) | In advance of the next meeting officers were asked to provide members with the following information:
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| | (i) | a complete list of outcomes for 2003/2004 and 2004/2005 to date, including details of overpayment recoveries made against individual claimants and whether orders to repay were sought;
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| | (ii) | for those cases that went to court, the amount of money repaid before the court appearance.
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| | (d) | officers were asked to write to the Audit Commission to ask whether information in respect of payroll, housing benefits and housing rents could be matched against DWP's fraud database and the findings reported to Medway. |
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| 275 | INTERNAL AUDIT WORK PROGRAMME 2003/04 |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The sub-committee considered the work programme including agreed changes occurring during the year and when the outcomes were reported to the sub-committee.
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| Members were advised that given the difficulty recruiting to the in-house team some of the work was resourced through the use of external staff. Officers had been impressed with the audit work undertaken by external staff but had been less pleased with the timescale within which the final report had been completed.
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| | > Internal audit work programme 2003-04 (pdf file 32.6kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | | (a) | Members noted progress against the 2003/2004 work programme and the delivery of key audits.
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| | (b) | Members asked for information comparing the Council's external auditors' charges and those of the external companies used by Internal Audit. |
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| 276 | EXCLUSION OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC |
| | | The sub-committee agreed to ask the press and public to leave the meeting for the following items because they contained information relating to action taken or about to be taken in connection with the prevention, investigation or prosecution of crime and the provision of legal advice, in accordance with paragraphs 14 and 12 of part 1 of schedule 12 A of the Local Government Act 1972. |
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| | > Exclusion of the press and public (pdf file 10.7kb) |
| 277 | OUTCOMES OF INTERNAL AUDIT ACTIVITY |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The sub-committee considered the Audit Services Manager's report advising of the outcome of Internal Audit activity 2003/2004. They were advised that the financial systems audit was satisfactory overall, however there was no formal opinion on operational control given the large number of systems across the authority. Members were also advised that the corporate governance audit had been considered by the Council's Standards Committee.
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| Members discussed, in particular, two issues. They referred to the software identified on page35/36 of the exempt appendix and asked in particular for details regarding whether or not the software matched expectation. Members also raised serious concerns in respect of the information provided on page 42/43 of the exempt appendix. In addition to asking for this information to be referred to the Chairman and Spokespersons of the Health and Community Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee, members asked the Chairman of the sub-committee to write to the Health and Community Portfolio Holder, raising their concerns and asking him to provide a briefing note indicating what action was being taken to resolve the issue. |
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| | > Outcomes of Internal Audit activity (pdf file 21.7kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | | (a) | The sub-committee noted the outcome of Internal Audit's work.
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| | (b) | The item detailed on page 42/43 of the exempt appendix was referred to the Chairman and Spokespersons of the Health and Community Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
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| | (c) | In respect of the issue referred to in (b) above, the Chairman agreed to write to the Health and Community Portfolio Holder raising the sub-committee's concerns and asking him to provide a briefing note indicating what action was being taken to resolve the issue. |
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| 278 | IRREGULARITY REPORT |
| | | The sub-committee received an exempt report that updated members on a previously reported irregularity. |
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| | > Irregularity report (pdf file 17.9kb) |