09 March 2017 
Matt Sisson, Projects and Membership Manager
This year's Counter-Fraud in HE conference saw 115 counter-fraud colleagues from universities across the UK travelling to the Grand Connaught Rooms in Holborn, London, on Monday 6th March. Building on the success of last year's event, the conference included a mixture of plenary and interactive breakout sessions, providing thought provoking and challenging insight into a wide range of fraud issues affecting universities. While there weren’t any sessions with ‘procurement’ in the title this year, there were plenty of topics, particularly around forensics, testing processes and procedures, and developing networks, that were applicable to the purchasing function. The presentations and associated resources are available for members to download from the BUFDG website, here. Readers can also click to download the Conference Programme 2017.
We’re also able to offer two new ‘Fraud first-responder’ training courses over the next few months. The first of these is in London on the 22nd May, and second will be held in Edinburgh on Friday 2nd June. Back by popular demand, we’re now broadening these courses for all those in institutions whose role means they may receive suspicions of potential frauds, as well as the university counter-fraud champions and institutional ‘first-responders’. This may include procurement managers and directors.
It's a hands-on, one-day course that will provide you with the knowledge and framework to respond appropriately to fraud alerts and reports, and to make the right decisions in accordance with your university’s policies. The course will also include sections on reporting channels, confidentiality and communication, and handling evidence. The course will run from 10am until 4pm, with registration and refreshments from 9.30am. Lunch and all refreshments are included in the £160 delegate fee.
