4. Culture
The Council is committed to ensuring that its culture will continue to be one of honesty and opposition to fraud, theft and corruption. There is an expectation and requirement that all individuals and organisations associated in whatever way with the Council will act with integrity and that Council staff and Members, at all levels, will lead by example in these matters.
The Council has a range of interrelated policies and procedures to provide a framework to counter fraudulent or corrupt activities. These include (but see Section 12 also):
- The Constitution
- Standards Committee and Audit and Governance Committee
- Members’ Code of Conduct
- Standing Orders
- Code of Conduct for Employees
- Corporate Counter Fraud and Compliance Team
- National Fraud Initiative and the Local Code of Data Matching
- Financial Regulations
- Procurement Strategy
- Corporate Risk Register
- IT Security Policy framework, particularly the Security Incident Policy
- Effective audit procedures with South West Audit Partnership (SWAP)
- Recruitment and Selection Procedures
- Disciplinary Procedures
- Whistleblowing Policy
- Anti Bribery Policy
- Training