Agenda item

Consideration was given to the Council’s Counter Fraud Plan for 2023/24, 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 Head of Internal Audit summarised the following elements in the report:-

·         Horizon scanning for new fraud risks;

·         The assessment of current fraud risks for the Council;

·         Information on counter fraud resource levels; and

·         Presentation of the new Counter Fraud Plan for City of Doncaster Council and an assurance map mapping coverage of the plan and activities to the risks on the fraud risk register.

In responding to questions from the Chair, the Head of Internal Audit clarified that Horizon scanning relates to any regional, national, or local issues in respect of fraud that could potentially impact upon the Council which have been included as part of the Council’s risk assessment. In relation to the Fraud Risk Heat Map, the purpose of which was to provide clearer visibility of Internal Audits proposed coverage of work and ensured that resources are directed to the areas of need. It was anticipated that in future that the Heat map would be utilised by other areas across the Council.

Arising from a further question from the Chair, the Head of Internal Audit confirmed that he was satisfied in terms of the adequacy of arrangements in place in relation to the assessments undertaken in the Counter Fraud Plan. He advised that whilst a benchmarking exercise of neighbouring authorities in terms of the standard of the report had not been undertaken, he confirmed that the report met best practice.

Members made reference to the £52bn estimated costs by the Government relating to Public Sector fraud, as set out in the Appendix of the report and highlighted the limited resources available and insufficient funding for Local Authorities to combat Fraud, in particular cyber fraud. However, Members were reassured that the majority of these costs related to fraud at a national level in respect of Department of Works and Pensions and HMRC fraud. In terms of Cyber security risks for the Council, these related to the level of transactions taking place and the level of activity by the Council was low risk. The Committee was reassured that the Council have effective arrangements in place to minimise the risk from cyber fraud. The Council have recently established a Cyber Security Team who worked in conjunction with the Internal Audit Team to counter fraud activity thereby minimising the risk of cyber-attacks on its systems.

The Vice-Chair, in welcoming the controls in place to mitigate against cyber risks, asked whether the cyber risks identified on the Heat map included Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud. The Head of Internal Audit confirmed that the audit needs assessment that had been undertaken by Salford Internal Audit Services provided a break down covering all areas of cyber fraud, including APP. The Council in recent years have invested significant resources into cyber fraud and was now in better position to the problems that were experienced by the Council in previous years.. Members were reminded that the Committee had received a presentation on the Council’s arrangements for cyber fraud in 2021 to give assurance on the risk  

RESOLVED that the Audit Committee support and approve the Counter Fraud Plan and the assurance map, which maps all the proposed activities to fraud risks.