The Council was firmly opposed to fraud and corruption of any kind and had a suite of policies and procedures used to promote a culture of openness, honesty and opposition to fraud. The documents formed part of the Council’s Anti-Fraud and Corruption Framework and were last approved at full Council in February 2016 (Minute C15/63).

The Framework had recently been reviewed and Members received a report of the Executive Director detailing proposed amendments to the Framework, which took into account changes in legislation and post titles. Members were asked to consider the proposed changes and recommend them for approval by full Council.

Members had an opportunity to put forward questions and the following points were noted during the discussion:

·                 Members queried the removal of the wording ‘invoke disciplinary proceedings’ at section 2.0 of the document (page 37 of the Agenda).  The Audit Manager explained that the wording had been removed as it was not a strategic objective, but the point was still covered in section 5.0 (page 41 of the Agenda) which clearly stated ‘Disciplinary action and prosecution will be invoked whenever fraud or corruption is found’;

·                 at section 5.0 of the document (pages 46 and 47 of the Agenda), Members queried why employees and Members were given a list of Designated Officers to refer to rather than a specific contact.  The Audit Manager explained that the wording allowed for flexibility in a number of fraud/corruption scenarios; and

·                 at section 8.0 of the document (pages 47 and 48 of the Agenda), Members queried why members of the public could not be given a specific contact.  It was agreed that the section be amended to signpost the public to the Audit Manager, which also applied to the Whistleblowing Policy on page 73 of the Agenda.

RECOMMENDED: That the revised Anti-Fraud and Corruption Framework be approved and adopted, as amended.