Issue - meetings

The Director of Finance submits a report  providing a general update on the activities of the Council’s investigators and providing assurance of the work they have undertaken.

The Director of Finance submitted a report which provided a general update on the activities of the Council’s investigators and provided assurance of the work they have undertaken.

Stuart Limb, Corporate Investigation Manager introduced the report in some detail outlining the areas of work undertaken by his team, details of referrals and information about the main areas of work. Details were provided about the savings which had been achieved by the team. He also noted that the service had been audited and it was concluded that the service was adequate.

Members of the Committee considered the report and raised some comments and questions.

The work of the team was praised.

The table at 3.4 of the report was referred to and the apparent drop in numbers of prosecutions compared with the previous year was queried. The Corporate Investigation Manager noted that cases put forward for prosecution was done on the evidence available and consideration of a realistic chance of prosecution. There were a number of cases outstanding due to delays in the Court System, but it was felt that numbers were usually quite stable.

The vacancy for a financial investigator detailed at 3.10 of the report was referred to, and it was queried whether there was any particular barriers to recruitment. The Corporate Investigation Manager stated that it was a fairly unique role and not many local authorities had such a role. Recruitment would be undertaken, as the position only became vacant recently and it was hoped to get an experienced investigator.

A further query was raised with regard to the focus given to different areas of fraud and the different levels (ie amounts of money involved) of fraud. The Corporate Investigations Manager confirmed that there were variations in the amounts for different areas, such as Council Tax support which was low, but Right to Buy requests which was a large amount of money involved. He explained that there was a balance between the level of fraud uncovered at the measures which were put in place.

RESOLVED:

That the report be received and the comments of the Committee be noted.