Mr Paul Rock, Head of Internal Audit, Anti-Fraud and Risk stated the report provided members with an update on the progress made against the delivery of the 2021/22 Annual Audit Plan and highlighted any significant issues since the last report to the Audit Committee in July 2021. An update on anti-Fraud activity was also included in the report.

Mr Rock said a total of six audits had been finalised this quarter, of which four had achieved a limited assurance. Mr Rock said there had been a change in emphasis in how assurance reports are reported, with a move away from reporting by exception to reporting a more balanced view, including those areas which had achieved a reasonable assurance. Hence the good and the challenging areas were being reported on. He said one report relating to contract monitoring had been split into two to show the split opinion. Mr Rock said officers from the service areas were present for the meeting to provide an update on the assurance and the actions taken to remedy the recommendations made by the Internal Audit team.

Mr Rock highlighted the anti-fraud activity and said the new Fraud Prevention Officer was having a positive impact. He said a wide range of work designed to raise awareness of fraud across the authority had started to improve fraud prevention measures. He said the easing of Covid-19 restrictions meant the fraud investigation teams had started to clear the backlog of cases to investigate, with 28 properties being recovered this quarter relating to social housing fraud. Mr Rock said good progress had been made in relation to NFI matches – national fraud initiative, which had led to some positive outcomes. Mr Rock said there needed to be an increase in management activity across the full range of reports and as such he was meeting with key officers to offer advice and support on how they might manage that workload, especially where there had been a high number of matches.

In response to comments and questions from members the following was noted:

• Councillor Edgar commented he was pleased the Fraud Prevention Officer was having a positive impact and said it was important to raise awareness cross the whole council. Referring to page 50 onwards and the NFI matches, Councillor Edgar questioned why there were a high percentage of closed cases. He said he appreciated not every match resulted in an investigation but queried why, for example blue badge fraud resulted in 253 cases being closed. Mr Rock responded stating he had two officers dedicated to blue badge fraud and this area was considered a high priority. He said from experience, the deceased data from DWP was not reliable and therefore additional inquiries to confirm a person had passed away had to be made before action is taken to remove the badge. Mr Rock said due to the number of matches, areas were categorised as high, medium and low priority and resources were targeted towards those where officers can achieve results. Mr  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4