SEVERAL “critical areas” of government operations will continue to be exposed to fraud and error risks unless recommendations from a report are not implemented sooner, according to panel of politicians which oversees how taxpayer money is spent.
The Public Accounts Committee raised concerns about the “lack of a clear timetable or prioritisation” in the government’s response to a report about preventing and detecting fraud and error.
The Tackling Fraud and Error report was authored by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Lynn Pamment, whose remit includes the audit and consideration of public funds to help ensure that Islanders are getting value for money.
Published in November, the report said that more needed to be done to “fully embed a culture of anti-fraud and error” within the government.
Progress in “design and implementation of controls to manage the risk of fraud and error” was “variable across departments”, according to the report – which found that recommendations of a previous report by the C&AG had not been fully implemented.
The report also revealed that around £5m in over-claimed Covid-19 financial support had yet to be recovered by the government.
Last week, the Public Accounts Committee reviewed the government’s response to the Tackling Fraud and Error report.
The PAC praised the government for accepting all of the recommendations outlined by the C&AG – but raised concerns about “the lack of a clear timetable or prioritisation”.
The government stated that completing full assessments of all 20 key risk areas would take “a number of years”.
In response, the PAC said that “this extended timeframe leaves the government exposed to fraud and error risks in several critical areas for a potentially prolonged period”.
The panel urged the government to “explore ways to accelerate its risk assessment and control-testing programme”.
It said: “Action should be taken by government to mitigate this situation and produce a plan including a clear, scheduled prioritisation of the areas according to the risk profile.”
The PAC called on government departments to implement interim measures to “reduce the most immediate vulnerabilities” while more in-depth reviews were carried out.
It also suggested that progress should be reported publicly to “maintain confidence and provide assurance that meaningful progress is being made”.
The panel said that the government should set out a “clear schedule” for tackling the highest-risk areas first, and ensure that sufficient specialist resources and training are available to speed up these assessments.
