Agenda item

Report DR10050

The Sub-Committee considered a report informing them of recent audit activity across the Council and updating them of progress on matters outstanding from the last meeting and implementing previous priority one recommendations.

(a) Cash Payments

The Chairman reminded the Sub-Committee that, as a result of work by internal auditors, it had asked officers to halve the value of cash payments made within a year. In addition to increased use of BACS, initiatives were under way to introduce purchasing cards and pre-paid cards – it was estimated that 140 pre-paid cards would replace around 3,300 cash payments per annum. Purchasing cards and pre-paid cards helped to make processes more efficient and provided data to help with reclaiming VAT. Clients were also encouraged to move to internet banking, but it was accepted that there was customer resistance to this.

RESOLVED that a further progress report be made at the next meeting.

(b) New Issues since the last meeting

Officers reported that the target to complete 95% of audits within two months of starting them was still not being met. This was partly due to secondment to cover new performance management responsibilities, and also staff sickness within the Internal Audit Team.

(c) Parking Income 2009/10

A priority one recommendation had been made with regard to the failure to reconcile parking income from October 2009 onwards. Ben Stephens, Head of Parking, attended the meeting for this item.  He explained that formal reconciliations had not taken place due to short term staffing issues and prioritisation of work on implementing a new computer system, and that management would have been informed immediately had the Council’s contractors suspected any discrepancies. Reconciliations were now up to date, with no substantial discrepancies having been found, and measures had been put in place to ensure that there was a dedicated staff resource for reconciliations.  The Sub-Committee also asked about the relative cost of different payment methods, such as credit cards, mobile phones, cash and smart cards (it was suggested that the latter could be explored with Transport for London).

(d) Debtors

Members noted that, following some short term management problems, the Domiciliary Care service had been transferred to Adult and Community Services and debt collection issues were being addressed. It was important to ensure that debts were followed up quickly and not allowed to build up. Members commented that the service might be better managed in the private sector; the Director of Resources confirmed that the scope of the contract now managed by Liberata would be examined.

RESOLVED that timescales for the completion of reconciliations and recovery actions be set down and reported back to the Sub-Committee and that an update be made to the next meeting, with appropriate charts showing trends including average debtor days, and covering write-offs and incentives for early payment.

(e) Primary School

The Sub-Committee discussed payments to an IT company made by a primary school, which had come to light when an income and expenditure audit had been carried out at the request of new governors of the school. No evidence had been found to suggest any fraud, and weekly visits were being made to support the school’s finance officer.

(f) Housing Benefit Update

Councillors welcomed the graphs presented for this item; the apparent spikes of activity in March were possibly as a result of efforts to meet annual targets or from National Fraud Initiative activity.

RESOLVED that Brendan Costello, manager of the anti-fraud team at Greenwich, be requested to attend the next meeting when housing benefit fraud issues are presented. 

(g) Annual Governance Statement

The Sub-Committee noted the Annual Governance Statement produced under the Accounts and Audit Regulations. The Chairman commented that it appeared that too much effort was going into “governance” at the expense of combating fraud, and that the “shared principles” at the end of the section on “The Governance Framework” were just a list of virtues.

RESOLVED that the Sub-Committee’s concerns be noted for the next publication of the accounts.