Agenda item

The Head of Internal Audit, Peter Jackson, presented a report which sought the Committee’s approval of the Council’s Counter Fraud Plan for 2022/23 which had been constructed in line with the Council’s Anti-Fraud, Bribery and Corruption Framework, (as approved by the Audit Committee in April 2021) and in line with the Fighting Fraud and Corruption Strategy 2020 for Local Government.

The Counter Fraud Activity report outlined the Council’s approach to counter fraud activity within Doncaster Council and St. Leger Homes of Doncaster for the 2022/23 financial year. The report contained the following elements:-

• An assessment of compliance with the Fighting Fraud and Corruption Locally Strategy 2020, as required by the Strategy;
• Horizon scanning for new fraud risks and the assessment of fraud risks for the Council;
• Assessments of Counter Fraud resource levels; and
• Presentation of the new Counter Fraud Plan for Doncaster Council and an assurance map mapping coverage of the Plan and activities to the risks on the fraud risk register, (as required by the new strategy).

Fighting Fraud and Corruption Locally Strategy 2020 had resulted in the Audit Plan last being presented in a different way to previous years, in that it has a plan for both non-fraud and fraud related work. This has been continued this year. Having a clearly set out Plan of proactive and reactive fraud work is designed to meet the requirements of the new Strategy and make the Counter Fraud Plan more transparent.

A self-assessment with the Fighting Fraud and Corruption Locally Strategy 2020 had been completed, which was attached to the report at Appendix 2. This was an updated version of the previous self-assessment which showed that the Council are compliant with the requirements of the Fighting Fraud and Corruption Locally Strategy.

Kathryn Smart made reference to bank mandate fraud which was prevalent in both public and private sector organisations and sought confirmation of where this risk was referenced in the report. The Head of Internal Audit was unable to direct Members to the section in the Counter Fraud Plan, however, he assured Members this issue had been considered and was included in the plan and that mitigation was in place to manage the risk.

In response to a query from the Vice-Chair seeking clarity regarding the level of available resources in relation to the ‘Amber’ rating, as part of the self-assessment evaluation, as set out at Appendix 1 of the report, Members were assured that currently sufficient resources were in place to deliver the Plan and respond to any risks

Following a further question, it was noted that the Council had arrangements in place to obtain external resources in the event of an emergency. The skills and expertise in the Internal Audit Team were utilised to deliver the priorities at the point of need for both the Internal Audit Plan and the Counter Fraud Plan, and that external support would be sought as and when required.

In response to a question from the Chair regarding the adequacy of the Council arrangements. The Head of Internal Audit confirmed that at the time of writing the report, the assessments were regarded as appropriate and that he did not have any particular concerns to raise and that the Authority had strong counter fraud arrangements in place.

RESOLVED that

(1)       the Fighting Fraud and Corruption Locally Self-Assessment, as appended to the Counter Fraud Activity report as Appendix 1; be supported and approved; and

(2)       the Counter Fraud Plan and the assurance map which maps all the proposed activities to fraud risks, as appended to the Counter Fraud Activity report, be supported and approved.