Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance and Core Services presented a report proposing the Council’s participation in the London Counter Fraud Hub, which would enable more collaborative and smarter working through data sharing to provide a powerful fraud detection solution.

The Cabinet Member confirmed that the hub had passed the initial ‘proof of concept’ stage, with the involvement of four pilot authorities, and was being prepared for roll out to all London Councils. Unlike the National Fraud Initiative (NFI), it did not have a statutory basis that required all authorities to provide their data, so a decision on whether to become a member of the hub was required from each Council. The report outlined the fraud prevention and detection opportunities that membership would bring and gave an indication of the additional resources needed to realise the benefits of being a member.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Approve the Council’s participation in the London Counter Fraud Hub as a participating authority through the collaborative contract let by the London Borough of Ealing and awarded to CIPFA Business Ltd, on the terms set out in the report;

(ii)  Authorise the Chief Operating Officer, in consultation with Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance and Core Services and the Director of Law and Governance, to enter into the contract and all other necessary or ancillary agreements including any future project expansion arrangements; and

(iii)  Authorise the provision of council data extracts to CIPFA for the purposes of preventing and detecting fraudulent or erroneous activity.