Report to: Audit Committee
Date: 8July 2022
By: Chief Operating Officer
Title of report: Strategic Risk Monitoring – Quarter 4 2021/22
Purpose of report: To update the Committee on current strategic risks faced by the Council, their status and risk controls / responses and to describe the current Risk Management process.
1. Background
1.1 Sound risk management policy and practice should be firmly embedded within the culture of the Council, providing a proportionate and effective mechanism for the identification, assessment and, where appropriate, management of risk. This is especially important in the current climate where there remains considerable uncertainty about the future.
1.2 Robust risk management helps to improve internal control and support better decision-making, through a good understanding of individual risks and an overall risk profile that exists at a particular time. To be truly effective, risk management arrangements should be simple and should complement, rather than duplicate, other management activities.
2. Supporting Information
2.1 The Council’s Strategic Risk Register, which is attached as Appendix 1, is formally reviewed by the Corporate Management Team (CMT) on a quarterly basis. Members should note that this version of the Strategic Risk Register, which relates to Quarter 4 of 2021/22, was reviewed by CMT on 25 May 2022 and presented to Cabinet on 27 June 2022 as part of the quarterly council monitoring process. Appendix 1 also includes additional summary information to present historic RAG ratings, as well as current pre and post mitigation RAG ratings.
2.2. The previous update to this Committee was in March 2022 to present the Strategic Risk Register as at Quarter 3 2021/22. Therehave been various updates to the Strategic Risk Register to reflect the Council’s risk profile as follows:
· Risk 1 (Roads), Risk 4 (Health), Risk 6 (Local Economic Growth), Risk 7 (Schools), Risk 14 (Post European Union (EU) transition) and Risk 15 (Climate) have updated risk controls.
· Risk 5 (Reconciling Policy, Performance & Resources), Risk 8 (Capital Programme) and Risk 12 (Cyber Attack) have updated risk definition and risk controls.
· Risk 9 (Workforce) has updated risk definition, controls, and post mitigation score to reflect the increased competitiveness of the job market.
· Risk 17 (Safeguarding of Children and Young People) has an updated post mitigation score to reflect increasing pressures on children’s social care services.
· Risk 16 (Covid-19) has been removed from the Strategic Risk Register. The continued impact of Covid-19 associated to individual risks will continue to be assessed.
2.3 Officers will continue to explore opportunities to further strengthen the Council’s risk management arrangements and for mitigating our key strategic risks. It is however, important to recognise that in some cases there is an inherent risk exposure over which the Council has only limited opportunity to mitigate or control.
3. Conclusion and Recommendation
3.1 The Committee is recommended to note the Strategic Risk Register including the risk controls / responses being proposed and implemented by Chief Officers.
ROS PARKER
Chief Operating Officer
Contact Officers:
Rachel Jarvis: Head of Finance (Planning and Reporting)
Tel: 01273 482332
Steven Bedford: Finance Manager (Capital and Planning),
Tel: 07701 394847
Local Member: All
Background documents:
None