Agenda item

To consider a report by the Chief Officer – Financial Services which provides a summary of the Internal Audit activity for the period June to August 2017 and highlight the incidence of any significant control failings or weaknesses.

The report also provides information from the Head of Service (Legal) about the recent use of the council’s surveillance powers under RIPA.

(Report attached)

Prior to the start of this item the Chair announced that the Internal Audit Team had recently won a prestigious National Award. The Chair invited the Acting Head of Internal Audit to provide further details about the award.

Sonya McDonald, Acting Head of Internal Audit reported that Leeds City Council’s, Internal Audit Team had been nominated and shortlisted for the Government Counter Fraud Awards. The ceremony was held in London on 21st September 2017. The Leeds Team beat competition from

Her Majesty Revenues and Customs (HMRC) and the Home Office to receive the top award for outstanding proactive detection work in the Government Counter Fraud Awards. The award was in recognition of the Leeds Grand Theatre fraud investigation.

The Chair requested that the congratulations of the Committee be passed on to all Members of the Team.

The Chair welcomed and introduced Councillor James Lewis, Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Resources and Strategy, Neil Evans Director of Resources and Housing and Bev Fisher (Deputy Chief Digital & Information officer) who were in attendance to contribute on the recently concluded investigation into use of resources following the sentencing of former Leeds Councillor and Lord Mayor, Neil Taggart. (Appendix No.1 of the submitted report referred).

Addressing the report the Director of Resources and Housing reported that the Internal Audit Section had undertaken a thorough investigation into the use of council resources by Neil Taggart. He said that although no evidence had been found there was an opportunity to review council systems with a view to strengthening and monitoring. Procedure around Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS checks) should also be strengthened.

Referring to section 3 of the submitted report the Acting Head of Internal Audit said the investigation found no evidence that council equipment was used for the offences committed by Neil Taggart. However, the council did provide an internet connection to his home for a period of at least eight years, during which time the offences were reported to have taken place. In the absence of any evidence to confirm which internet connection was used to obtain the images in question, there remained a possibility that the council-provided internet connection may have been used for this purpose. Whilst filtering controls were in place during this period, it was not possible for 100% of websites with inappropriate content to be blocked.

In offering comment Councillor Lewis said the investigation undertaken by internal audit was the right thing to do. The investigation has highlighted a potential control weakness in undertaking DBS checks for Members and this was an area where further strengthening was required.

On the issue of DBS checks, one Member queried if all Council Members had been DBS checked.

In responding Councillor Lewis said that it was his understanding that of the 99 Council Members; 70 had a current DBS check, 19 had checks which were in excess of 4 years old and no records could be located for 10 Members.

In the discussion that followed it was the view of the Committee that all Members be reminded of the necessity to have in place a current DBS check and that failure to comply with this requirement should be the subject of consideration and sanction by the appropriate political Group Office. 

The Chair also suggested that the issue of DBS checks be referred to the Member Management Committee for further analysis. The Committee supported this and asked that specific consideration be given by Member Management Committee of whether a recommendation might be appropriate to group whips for a failure to complete a DBS check to be dealt with by political groups through their disciplinary arrangements with an ultimate sanction including removal of the group whip.

Members also queried if Neil Taggart had been on the Governing Body of any Leeds schools.

The Acting Head of Internal Audit confirmed that Neil Taggart had been a School Governor, but not an active one and had been disqualified for non-attendance.

A number of Members also highlighted the fact that Neil Taggart was at one time Chair of the Police Authority, as such he would have had access to sensitive information and would have being able gain entry to restricted areas.

Members queried if the Police were undertaking any similar investigation to that of the Council.

Officers reported that they had no knowledge of any such investigation taking place.

The Chair undertook to raise the matter with the West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner.

Members were supportive of the suggested action.

Further information was sought on the monitoring arrangements of the Council’s IT systems.

In responding the Deputy Chief Digital & Information officer said arrangements were already in place to monitor and filter internet usage when connected to the council network, where key words and phrases were used to identify and then block inappropriate sites. It was further reported that a framework of proactive monitoring measures to supplement the existing web filtering controls would be put in place, including proactive scanning of the council’s digital storage including all council owned devices used by staff and Members.

In drawing the discussion to a conclusion, the Chair said one of the recommendations arising from the investigation was that the council implements the additional proactive monitoring controls for the purposes of identifying offences of this nature. Members were supportive of the recommendation.

The Chair referred Members attention to other issues contained in the update report.

The Acting Head of Internal Audit provided a summary of the Internal Audit activity for the period June to August 2017 and highlighted incidences of any significant control failings or weaknesses.

The report also provided information from the Head of Service (Legal) about the use of the Council’s surveillance powers under RIPA, it was confirmed that there had been no such use in this period.

It was reported that there were no issues identified by Internal Audit in the June to August 2017 Internal Audit Update Report that would necessitate direct intervention by the Corporate Governance and Audit Committee.

The Chair thanked Members and Officers for their contributions.

RESOLVED -

(i)  To receive the Internal Audit Update report covering the period June to August 2017, noting the work undertaken by Internal Audit during this period.

(ii)  To note there had been no limitations in scope and nothing had arisen to compromise the independence of Internal Audit during the reporting period.

(iii)  To note the information in the report about the recent use of the Council’s surveillance powers under RIPA and to note the information provided by the Head of Service (Legal) about the recent use of the Council’s Surveillance powers under RIPA.

(iv)  That the Corporate Governance and Audit Committee recommends that all Members of Council be reminded of the necessity to have in place a current DBS check and that failure to comply with this requirement would be the subject of a sanction by the appropriate political Group Office.

(v)  That the issue of DBS checks be referred to the Member Management Committee for further analysis, with a request that specific consideration be given as to whether a recommendation might be appropriate to group whips for a failure to complete a DBS check to be dealt with by political groups through their disciplinary arrangements with an ultimate sanction including removal of the group whip.

(vi)  That the Chair write, on behalf of this Committee, to the West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner in relation to the Internal Audit report into former Councillor Neil Taggart and the use of council resources.