The Chief Internal Auditor presented an update on the activities of the Internal Audit Counter Fraud Team for the period 2011/2012 and the first half of the 2012/2013 financial year to date. He commented that although the Counter Fraud Team worked closely and collaboratively with the Fraud Investigation Team within Revenues and Benefits, his report did not include the extensive activities of the benefits fraud team which were reported to Members separately. A presentation had been prepared to accompany his report and he introduced Peter Taylor, who managed the Counter Fraud Team, to deliver it.

The remit of the team was to prepare best practice policies and procedures; to change the culture of the organisation by raising awareness amongst the workforce to fraud and corruption and through targeted training; to proactively manage the risk of fraud to the Council through targeted audits in high risk areas; and to investigate alleged fraudulent activity. He provided an overview of the activities undertaken by the Counter Fraud Team and highlighted some outcomes achieved during the monitoring period.

In response to comments from members in relation to the Credit Card review, he indicated that until an ongoing further investigation was completed, it was not possible to confirm whether or not any fraud had taken place. Members requested that the outcome of investigations included within future update reports should indicate the split between identified fraud and genuine error.

Resolved – That the report and accompanying presentation be noted.