Issue - meetings

REPORT OF THE SHARED ANTI-FRAUD SERVICE (SAFS)

To consider the proposed anti-fraud plan 2025/26.

RESOLVED:

(1)   That Committee reviewed and approved the Anti-Fraud Plan 2025/26.

(2)   That the Committee delegated authority to the Service Director – Resources to review and update the language, alongside SAFS, to make the KPIs, attached at Appendix B, more specific, particularly in relation to 1 and 3.

Audio Recording – 16 minutes 31 seconds

The Counter Fraud Manager presented the report entitled ‘SAFS Proposed Anti-Fraud Plan 2025-26’ and highlighted that:

·       In preparing this report SAFS used theory from five publications on how to prevent fraud, these were listed on paragraph 3 of the report.

·       The report was similar to the previous plan for 2024/25, and it outlined how to prevent and deter fraud and corruption, as well as the controls used to reduce fraud.

·       The objectives and KPIs for 2025/26 were set out through pages 30-34.

The following Members asked questions:

·       Councillor Ruth Brown

·       Councillor Paul Ward

·       Councillor Sam Collins

In response to questions, the Counter Fraud Manager advised that:

·       There were two short appendices on page 25.

·       KPIs that related to service delivery were not binary as they were more flexible. For example, meeting with the council was quarterly, but the report used the wording ‘regularly’ to allow SAFS and the Council to control the frequency of meetings due to need throughout the year.

·       Attending the resources meetings allowed SAFS to prepare papers and give an input to issues raised by the Council, for example how do SAFS deal with individual instances of fraud.

·       The current standard response time was 24 hours for all reports of fraud. The system used by SAFS did not have the capacity to measure the high priority reports, therefore the KPI was for all reports to be dealt with within 48 hours to build in for delays due to the reporting service being available 24/7.

In response to questions, the Service Director - Resources advised that it was within the remit of this Committee to amend wording in relation to the KPIs included. The Committee could delegate authority to the Service Director – Resources and SAFS to amend these as requested by Members.

Councillor Ruth Brown proposed with an additional recommendation 2.2 and Councillor Sam Collins seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED:

(1)   That Committee reviewed and approved the Anti-Fraud Plan 2025/26.

(2)   That the Committee delegated authority to the Service Director – Resources to review and update the language, alongside SAFS, to make the KPIs, attached at Appendix B, more specific, particularly in relation to 1 and 3.