Agenda item

To receive the report from the Assistant Director (Veritau) and Assistant Director – Corporate Fraud (Veritau), which asks the Committee to note the update on progress made in delivering the internal audit, counter fraud and information governance work for 2019/20.

The Assistant Director, Audit Assurance, Veritau presented the quarterly report which depicted current progress in relation to the 2019-20 internal audit work plan, along with an update on the counter fraud and information governance work undertaken to date in 2019-20.  It was noted that currently there was eleven 2019-20 audits in progress, with three reports being finalised since the last report to the Committee

The Corporate Fraud Assistant Director, Veritau presented the section of the report related to the Council’s counter fraud activity 2019-20 which highlighted that savings of £9.4k had been achieved through fraud investigation.

The Committee was informed that in December 2019 the Council had prosecuted a former tenant for subletting a council property over the course of two years; the tenant had pleaded guilty to all charges and was fined £1,400.  The Corporate Fraud Assistant Director praised the work of the Council’s legal team and thanked them for their help with the prosecution.

The Assistant Director, Information Governance presented the section of the report which updated the Committee on Information Governance matters and developments in the Councils Information Governance arrangements and compliance with relevant legislation.

In relation to privacy notices, the Committee heard that individual privacy notices were being prepared by each service team; these would be reviewed by Veritau as they were completed and would then be published on the Council website.

In terms of training, the Committee were informed that a training session on Data Protection Rights and Principles had been delivered to which 21 staff members had attended; a second session was being planned for early 2020.

The Committee heard that 14 security incidents had been reported to Veritau in 2019-20, however none of the reported incidents had needed to be reported to the Information Commissioner’s Officer (ICO).

Members queried in light of the number of audits about to be commenced, was there sufficient capacity to complete the work, it was explained that the resources were there, as Veritau had a large team of auditors. 

The Committee raised concerns around the costs of detecting fraud, and queried if the money would be better spent in protecting against fraud, the Chief Finance Officer explained that Veritau provided both fraud detection and protection services, and that the whole counter fraud arrangements were robust.  It was further queried if the Council was spending a disproportionate amount of money on the service; the Chief Finance Officer stated that the cost was not disproportionate and that the cost of the Counter Fraud Service could be provided should the Members request it.

The Chair raised a query regarding membership of the Corporate Information Governance Group (CIGG), and whether any Councillors sat on the group, the Chief Finance Officer explained that it was an operational officer group who reported directly to her.

The Committee expressed interest in the training sessions on Data Protection Rights and Principles which had been delivered to staff members, but stated that the training would need to be in the evening or something that could be accessed on-line, the Chief Finance Officer confirmed that training on GDPR could be provided for Members.

RESOLVED:

To note the report.