Agenda and draft minutes
Venue: M71, 7th Floor, Town Hall, Mulberry Place, 5 Clove Crescent, London, E14 2BG
Contact: Amanda Thompson, Democratic Services Tel: 020 7364 4651, E-mail: amanda.thompson@towerhamlets.gov.uk
No. | Item |
---|---|
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE To receive any apologies for absence. Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Carli Harper-Penman and Anwar Khan.
Councillor Ahmed Omer attended as a substitute for Councillor Harper-Penman.
|
|
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST PDF 48 KB To note any declarations of interest made by Members, including those restricting Members from voting on the questions detailed in Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act, 1992. See attached note from the Chief Executive.
Minutes: None received.
|
|
To confirm as a correct record of the proceedings the minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee held on 20 July 2010.
Minutes: RESOLVED
That the minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee held on 20 July 2010 be agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair subject to the correct spelling of the phrase ‘root cause’.
|
|
REPORTS FOR CONSIDERATION |
|
Annual Anti Fraud Report 2009-10 PDF 133 KB Minutes: Tony Qayum, Head of Audit Services, introduced the report which provided a summary of work on sensitive and reactive enquiries undertaken during 2009/10, and included an overview of the results of the investigations carried out by Housing Benefits Investigations, the Parking Service, and Insurance Services.
Mr Qayum drew particular attention to one substantial inquiry which had resulted in criminal proceedings against an officer, and following which the required system improvements were introduced by the relevant service and verified as being implemented by a follow up Audit review. Officers were now confident that robust levels of control over the exposed risks were in place, and the case would also serve as a valuable deterrent against any future reoccurrence.
Mr Qayum reported that a small temporary team had been employed to assist the Council in tackling the sub-letting of Tower Hamlets Homes (THH) and Registered Social Landlord (RSL) properties.
The Committee noted that a new case management system for the handling of insurance claims had been introduced and that this would be regularly reported to reflect trends.
Members of the Committee raised a number of questions concerning the Council’s insurance arrangements and the nature of the claims sought, clarification of ‘small’ instances of fraud which resulted in a caution only, clarification of the nature of parking fraud cases and false claims, analysis of value for money during the recovery process, and the future co-ordination of the National Fraud Initiative.
RESOLVED
That the report be noted.
|
|
Social Housing Fraud Update PDF 72 KB Minutes: Mr Tony Qayum presented the report which summarised the work of the anti fraud team on social housing fraud and the recovery of un-lawfully let public sector dwellings.
Mr Qayum reported that the Government had set up a fund to encourage local authorities to promote tackling tenancy fraud, and Tower Hamlets had successfully bid for and secured the maximum allocation of £50,000 at the end of December 2009. A decision was made to use this fund to pro actively work with a range of stakeholders to identify this type of fraud and to recover properties for legitimate letting.
The majority of the funding had been used to fund three specialist housing fraud officers, employed on six month fixed term contracts to work specifically on the property recovery, and training on tackling housing fraud had been delivered to Tower Hamlets Homes and local RSLs jointly between the Council’s Legal Services and Audit Services.
The Team had successfully worked together and built professional relationships with both Tower Hamlets Homes and local RSLs and this was reflected in the number of referrals and recovery successes.
It was also reported that Officers explored good practice and achievements elsewhere to identify innovative ways of tacking social housing fraud and the Council encouraged the practice of whistle-blower. The whistle-blowing policy was well publicized to encourage people to come forward.
The Committee discussed the benefits to the Council of carrying out this work and the Council’s legal powers as a Landlord in gaining access to properties. In response to questions Mr Qayum advised that the fixed term contracts of the specialist housing fraud officers had been extended, and it was hoped that future funding to continue the service could be secured using some of the proceeds from the recovery process.
In response to a question around the use of CCTV surveillance Mr Qayum advised that this was not a necessary requirement for Tenancy Fraud investigations and if there was ever a need for the application of covert surveillance this would have to be fully justified and be in compliance with the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.
RESOLVED
That the report be noted.
|
|
National Fraud Initiative 2010-11 PDF 3 MB Minutes: Mr Qayum presented the report which detailed the background and evolution of the London Fraud Initiative into the National Fraud Initiative (NFI) and the launch of the current NFI 2010 – 11 which had been managed by the Audit Commission.
In response to a question concerning benchmarking assessments, Mr Qayum referred to the difficulties in trying to carry out such comparisons as other authorities tended to adopt different approaches to managing fraud. However it was possible to asses where the authority stood in terms of managing NFI and this was monitored by the Audit Commission,
RESOLVED:
That the contents of the report be noted.
|
|
Monitoring Implementation of the Ethical Governance Protocol for Council Contracts PDF 227 KB Minutes: Mr Mark Abrahams, Interim Service Head, Procurement and Corporate Programmes, presented the report which provided an update on the adoption of the Ethical Governance Protocol by suppliers.
Mr Abrahams reported that a survey had been carried out during May 2010 in order to establish the compliance with the Protocol. A total of 248 responses had been received, the findings of which were detailed within the report, which had indicated a high level of compliance.
Mr Abrahams advised that the survey would be carried out bi-annually, but more research was needed in order to better understand correlation between the responses given and the different types of respondent organisations.
Members of the Committee raised a number of questions concerning the significance of the questions that had been left unanswered in the survey, the validity of the responses and whether any random checks had been undertaken, and whether small businesses were deterred from signing up.
RESOLVED:
That the contents of the report be noted.
|
|
Corporate Complaints Half Year Report 2010/2011 PDF 169 KB Minutes: Mr Robert Wingate, Deputy Complaints Manager, presented the report which provided a summary of complaints received by the Council during the period 1 April 2010 to 31 September 2011 through the Corporate Complaints Procedure, Adults and Children’s Social Care Complaints Procedures, and those received and determined by the Local Government Ombudsman for the same period.
The Committee were advised that a lower number of Stage 1 complaints had been received compared to the same period the previous year, and there had also been an improvement in complaint response times. Also following the imposition of stricter deadlines to respond, the number of cases referred to the Local Government Ombudsman had also reduced.
In response to a question concerning the duplication of the report which was also considered by the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Ms Isabella Freeman, Assistant Chief Executive (Legal), advised that it was necessary for both Committees to do so as their oversight role was different. Overview and Scrutiny were more concerned with performance while the role of the Standards Committee was more ethical.
RESOLVED
That the report be noted
|
|
Member Timesheets and Attendance at Committees PDF 132 KB Minutes: Mr John Williams, Service Head for Democratic Services presented the monitoring report which updated the Committee on a range of matters related to Councillors attendance at meetings, events, completion of timesheets and registration of interests.
Mr Williams also tabled an updated version of Appendix 1. (Summary of Members Monthly Timesheet Returns) incorporating timesheets completed since report publication.
In relation to Appendix 1 regarding Councillors’ timesheet submissions, concern was expressed at the number of Members without any submissions since the start of the current municipal year.
In relation to Appendix 3 regarding attendance at training events concern was also expressed at the number of members who had not attended mandatory training on Ethics and Standards.
In response to questions Mr Williams clarified the training requirements necessary to sit on various Committees, and also confirmed that Deputies were also required to attend.
Arising from the discussion it was noted that some newly elected members may not have been fully aware of all aspects of the timesheet reporting system and the importance attached to it, and it was suggested that training and guidance in respect of this be offered.
RESOLVED
1) That the information set out in Appendices 1, 2 and 3 in relation to Councillors’ submission of timesheets, attendance at formal meetings and training events, and completion of the register of interests during the current municipal year be noted;
2) That the Chair of the Committee write to the Members who had not completed any timesheets or attended mandatory training sessions during the current municipal year to ask that this be rectified and that they clarify their reasons for not doing so; and
3) That further monitoring reports be received at six monthly intervals.
|
|
ANY OTHER BUSINESS WHICH THE CHAIR CONSIDERS URGENT Minutes: Ms Isabella Freeman, Assistant Chief Executive (Legal), reported that following consultation with the Chair an extraordinary meeting of the Committee had been arranged for Tuesday 23 November 2010, which would be preceded by a training session.
This was to enable a report to be brought forward on Enforcement and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 policy (RIPA), following the Cabinet’s recommendation that the Standards Committee should have oversight of this area of work.
|