Local authority procurement is at risk of infiltration from serious and organised crime and organised crime groups could be benefitting from public sector contacts.
The Home Office has produced a suite of checklists, audit frameworks and templates specifically aimed at the local government sector.
Local authority serious and organised crime checklist
The checklist is intended to be used as an internal, self-assessment tool by the Chief Executive and the senior management team to provide a high level overview of the serious and organised crime risks that relate to your business. It can be carried out quickly with relevant heads of departments to make a high level, but balanced assessment of your exposure to the risks and in response develop an improvement plan for managing that risk, as well as capturing areas of good practice to replicate more widely across the council and with neighbouring councils.
Local authority serious organised crime internal audit
The Serious and Organised Crime Audit is a methodology that allows council Internal Audit teams to scrutinise business operations to establish where there may be vulnerabilities to serious and organised crime. We recommend initially working with police to identify areas most vulnerable within your council and then for Internal Audit to carry out an audit based on the process set out below. ‘Potential Areas for Serious and Organised Crime Audit’ lists typical council work areas and those highlighted in bold are areas potentially at greater risk though these may vary from council to council.
Local authority serious organised crime internal audit (statement)
Council procurement and legal teams may want to consider the inclusion of the statement in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ EU) notice and the Invitation to Tender (ITT) for procurements in areas considered to be at risk from serious and organised crime in their local area.