Agenda item

This report provides Members with an update on the work, outputs and performance of the Audit & Counter Fraud Team for the period 1 September to 16 December 2016.

Discussion:

Members considered a report which provided an update on the work, outputs and performance of the Audit and Counter Fraud Team for the period 1 September to 16 December 2016.

Members welcomed the new format and style of reporting, which they considered to be much clearer.

Due to a predicted shortfall in resources, it was proposed that two reviews should be removed from the Plan (reviews of Grant Payments to Voluntary Organisations and Customer Contact (Financial Assessments)). However, the team hoped to be able to deliver the remainder of the planned work

during the year. A Member noted that the issue of grants to voluntary organisations was still important and, referring to an earlier fraud involving a voluntary organisation, queried whether Medway as a place had learned lessons from this. The Head of Audit and Counter Fraud Shared Service commented that this would be considered for inclusion in the next Plan and she would look at whether the wider issues raised could be incorporated. In response to a question, the Chief Finance Officer undertook to provide Members with details of how many voluntary organisations received grants from the Council and the value of these. In terms of why the customer contact (financial assessments) review was being removed, the Head of Audit and Counter Fraud Shared Service advised that other reviews in the Audit Plan related to the work of the Team and if any issues arose from this then the review would be added to the Plan for next year.

Regarding the waste management – refuse collection and recycling review, a Member queried the scope of this and whether it could look at some of the reputational issues for the Council if a contractor or one of its employees behaved in a way which damaged public confidence. The Head of Audit and Counter Fraud Shared Service advised that the scope had not yet been agreed but it was likely to focus on how effectively the council managed the contract.

With regard to the Homelessness – Temporary Accommodation review, a Member queried how the review had concluded that there were suitable temporary accommodation options available when one third of properties used for temporary accommodation were not being actively monitored by Council. The Head of Audit and Counter Fraud Shared Service replied that the issue was that the record of properties monitored by the Council’s private housing team was not being reconciled on a regular basis with the record of properties used by the homelessness team who placed people in temporary accommodation.

A discussion took place about Member access to the full reports of audit reviews. Following requests, it was agreed that once finalised, the report on Procurement would be sent to the Portfolio Holder for Resources and that the Homelessness – Temporary Accommodation review report would be sent to all Members of the Committee. A suggestion that reports be sent to Portfolio Holders and Opposition Spokespersons on an automatic basis would be discussed outside the meeting.

A Member expressed surprise that the names of people convicted of fraud were named in the report. Officers advised that people were only named if they had been convicted; that this information was already in the public domain and it was another means by which the Council could publicise that fraud had been successfully tackled.

Decision:

The Committee agreed to:

a)     note the outputs and performance of the Audit & Counter Fraud Plan for Medway for the period 1 September to 31 December 2016, as detailed at Appendix 1;

b)     note the results of the review of the Audit & Counter Fraud Plan at section six of the Update report, and approve the removal of the review of Grant Payments to Voluntary Organisations and Customer Contact (Financial Assessments) from the Plan, and;

c)     ask that a copy of the final report into the Homelessness – Temporary Accommodation review be sent to Members of the Committee and the final report on the procurement review to the Portfolio Holder for Resources.