Agenda item

The Head of Policy, Governance and Information presented a report, the purpose of which was to provide a mid-year update to the Committee on the current content of the Council’s Strategic Risk Register (SRR).  Provision of the report supported the Committee to fulfil its governance and oversight responsibilities.

Risk Management was a critical element of corporate governance and was a statutory requirement for public sector organisations.  The Council was required to provide for the health and safety of its Elected Members, employees, and those that it served.  It had a duty to ensure effective planning for civil emergencies and was required to protect its assets and to take steps to minimise losses and liabilities.  The purpose of Risk Management was to identify and manage risks to reduce their likelihood of occurring and also reduce their impact, should they occur.

Risk Management was the collective responsibility of all Elected Members and officers of the Council.  The Council’s approach to Risk Management was articulated by the Risk Management Framework and Policy, which was reviewed by Executive in July 2023.

The Council used risk registers to manage the various risks it identified; the SRR was the overarching risk register.  This register captured the most significant risks the organisation was exposed to that could impact on its ability to deliver its strategic priorities, which were outlined in the Strategic Plan.

The SRR was underpinned by directorate level risk registers which were monitored by directors.  Within projects and programmes, risks were captured using standardised project documentation, which included risk registers.  There were processes in place to ensure risks were considered either as they were managed during business-as-usual processes or throughout the life of a project, and that they were escalated and deescalated, as appropriate.

In addition to bi-annually reporting the Council’s overall approach on Strategic Risk Management to this Committee, a summary of the SRR was monitored monthly in performance deck and reviewed every three-months by the Leadership Management Team.

A summary of the current SRR was shown at Appendix 1 of the report.

During consideration of the report, the following points were raised:

·        A Member referred to SR15d - ‘Develop an early tension warning system that monitors and alerts the local authority and other key local partners about growing tensions’ - and queried whether this had been completed.  The Head of Policy, Governance and Information would refer this to an appropriate officer for response.

·        A Member referred to SR15 actions and a planned action with PREVENT.  It was queried how confident officers were that issues with failures in PREVENT would be addressed during planned action.  The Head of Policy, Governance and Information would refer this to an appropriate officer for response.

·        A Member referred to SR15g - ‘Repair relationships and engagement between local communities where they have broken down following serious conflict and flashpoint incidents’ - and requested more information on the steps that would be taken to deliver that action.  The Head of Policy, Governance and Information would refer this to an appropriate officer for response.

·        A Member requested an overview of the Risk Management approach that was applied to Emergency Planning.  The Head of Policy, Governance and Information would refer this to an appropriate officer for response.

·        In relation to the six-month update on the Council’s SRR, a Member queried the legal advice that the TVCA Scrutiny Committee had recently received from Bevan Brittain, which the Member advised set out that the TVCA scrutiny functions did not have jurisdiction over the three corporations that were in place.  The Head of Policy, Governance and Information would refer this to an appropriate officer for response. 

·        A Member referred to sr02 and queried the potential impact that a sudden increase in Children’s Social Care cases could have.  In response, the Committee heard of the rigorous mitigation schedule that was currently in place to help plan for this, which included significant investment in data analytical models and contingency planning.

·        A Member referred to the Local Government Association (LGA) review report and queried when this would be provided.  In response, the Committee was advised that the report was due for fact checking this week.  It was intended that the report would be presented to full Council on 26 March 2025, though this was dependent upon timely receipt and review of it.

The Chair thanked the officer for the report and information provided.

AGREED that:

1.     The Head of Policy, Governance and Information would refer the enquiries raised by Members to appropriate officers, for response.

2.     The arrangements in place to manage risk and provide assurance that strategic risks were being effectively managed within the risk management framework across the Council were adequate.

3.     The information, as presented, was noted.