DOE Planning: Review of Counter Fraud Arrangements

A Report published  by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Kieran Donnelly, examines the counter-fraud arrangements established over planning functions in Northern Ireland.

Mr Donnelly said “Planning is one area within the public sector where there is a particularly high risk of fraud and corruption.  It is not enough to establish controls to combat these risks.  The Department must build a strong anti-fraud culture to ensure that these controls are implemented consistently. Robust counter-fraud arrangements must be in place before planning functions transfer to district councils in 2015.”

Planning transferred from local government to the Department of the Environment (DoE) in 1973. In April 1996 it became the Planning Service, an Executive Agency. In 2011, as part of the preparations for planning and local government reform, planning functions reverted to the Department. DoE anticipates that planning functions will transfer to the 11 new district councils in April 2015.

Key Findings

DoE has assessed the overall risk of fraud in planning as low, on the basis that internal controls are in place and few frauds have been detected. In our view, a low risk assessment is optimistic given the inherent risks in planning.

The Department has a comprehensive set of counter fraud policies and strategies which are generic and take little or no account of the specific nature of planning work.

Whistleblowing by staff and the public plays an important role in combating fraud. However, information on how to report concerns is not displayed prominently to the public on the Department’s website.

DoE Planning has established a fraud detection strategy. This would be enhanced if the planning applications to be examined were selected on the basis of intelligence and a detailed assessment of fraud risks, rather than at random.

While a counter fraud culture is developing, a survey of staff in DoE Planning identified the need for more effort to make them aware of the existence of, and their responsibilities under, key counter fraud policies and procedures. Less than half of staff would be confident in using the whistleblowing arrangements to report wrongdoing.

Background briefing can be obtained from the Audit Office by contacting Neil Gray (028 9025 4345) or Clare Dornan (028 9025 1035).