Agenda item

Mr Morris presented the External Audit Update Report. He said that the 2013-14 Accounts Audit Plan would be presented to the next meeting of the Committee. Work on the Value for Money opinion would begin this month.

Mr Henderson commented on the Certification Report 2012/13. He drew attention to the “key message” on Housing Benefits (errors in relation to classifying overpayments) on agenda page 77 and to the “significant finding” on the Housing and Council Tax Benefit Scheme claim (insufficient management capacity) on agenda page 79.

Mr Morris reported that representations had been received from members of the public about the Bath Transportation Package (agenda page 81), which had been dealt with as part of the certification work. In response to a question from the Chair, Mr Morris explained that the certification work had been delayed so that the public representations could be dealt with at the same time, rather than them having to be dealt with separately.

The Divisional Director-Finance reported that an action plan was being prepared to address the issues raised by the external auditors. He suggested that the issues needed to be put in context: the error of £64 referred to on agenda page 81 should be considered against the total budget for the Housing and Council Tax Benefit Scheme of £63m. Mr Morris agreed that the error needed to be put in context: it was unusual for a local authority not to have amendments to claims and most authorities had qualified claims. The Chair commented that £64 might not be a lot in relation to the total budget, but it could be a large sum to an individual. The Divisional Director-Finance said that the £64 was not necessarily an overpayment. It was the Council’s practice to amend benefit payments if the claimant telephoned in to notify a change of circumstances, and to tell them to send in a pay slip as confirmation. The claimant’s record should then be flagged and the pay slip chased if it failed to arrive. This might not have happened in relation to the £64, so that there was no supporting evidence for the amendment. The external auditors’ comment on the issue was fair and would be addressed in the action plan.

Mr Henderson commented on the Protecting the Public Purse: Fraud Briefing (Appendix 3). He noted that nationally the number of detected frauds had fallen by 14% but the value of fraud had reduced by only 1%, which indicated that there had been an increase in higher-value fraud. The graph on page 92 also showed that while the number of cases of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit fraud detected in BANES was higher than the southern Unitary Authority average, the value was lower, raising questions about whether higher-value fraud in BANES might be escaping detection. The Chair asked what the national averages were. Mr Henderson said he would report back on this. A Member asked whether how money lost through fraud was recovered. The Divisional Director-Finance said that he would report back on this.

RESOLVED to note the various updates from the External Auditor.