Agenda item
Future Proposals for the Formation of a Dedicated Proceeds of Crime Financial Investigations Team
This report provides details of the proposals for the expansion of the Proceeds of Crime Team.
Minutes:
Members considered a report that set out the business case for the formation of a dedicated Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) Financial Investigations Team based in the Brent and Harrow Trading Standards Service. Nagendar Bilon, Head of Consumer and Business Protection Service informed members that POCA not only provided a robust set of powers for investigating, restraining and confiscating assets but also allowed the Service to generate much needed funds to subsidise the work of local authority regulators. He clarified that under the Home Office Incentivisation Scheme the investigating and prosecuting authority was allowed to keep 37.5% of the assets confiscated.
He continued that the proposal was to set up a dedicated team to conduct POCA investigations and market their services to internal and external Council services. It was further proposed that any funds received through these means would be used to fund the work of the POCA team thus maintaining the current staffing levels and preventing any adverse impact on the front line work carried out by Trading Standards Officers. This resource would not only ensure that POCA investigations can be pursued but would help ensure that there were sufficient prosecutions of serious offences to provide the foundation for future financial investigations. The proposal took into account the Home Office Incentivisation Scheme which required that some of funds generated must be set aside in a reserve account to provide some level of stability for continuation of the work. To ensure stability for the continuation of the POCA work it was also proposed that funds received through the Incentivisation Scheme should be saved in a reserve account and surpluses for any given year should be carried forward to allow for periods of sporadic income.
In welcoming the report, members suggested the following additional points to enhance the proposals:
· Officers should seek to identify commissioning officers in other London Boroughs with a view to marketing the services to them.
· Training courses be organised for officers in other departments within both Councils to get them to recognise areas where POCA could apply.
· Trading Standards Service should also focus on Legal Services of both Brent and Harrow with a view to getting the Legal Services to appreciate the capacity of the Trading Standards Service with respect to this area of work.
RESOLVED:
(i) that a dedicated team to conduct financial investigations under the POCA be set up;
(ii) that a financial investigations service be provided to other regulators both internally within Brent and externally to other Councils;
(iii) that in the long term the existing Trading Standards staffing complement be maintained, by replacing the two AFIs, which would enable the detection and prosecution of offenders, therefore, leading to financial investigations under the POCA;
(iv) that the income from the POCA incentivisation scheme be used to subsidise the Trading Standards budget thus reducing the contribution currently being made by the London Boroughs of Brent and Harrow by a further £100,000 each over three years;
(v) that Officers should seek to identify commissioning officers in other London Boroughs with a view to marketing the services to them;
(vi) that training courses be organised for officers in other departments within both Councils to get them to recognise areas where POCA could apply;
(vii) that Trading Standards Service should also focus on Legal Services of both Brent and Harrow with a view to getting the Legal Services to appreciate the capacity of the Trading Standards Service with respect to this area of work.
Supporting documents: