Agenda item

To receive this report as an update on the progress made by the Council to ensure that a complete risk register is in place and is being maintained, and considers the highest risks that the Council faces.

DECISION:

·         To accept the report as an update on the steps the Council is taking to ensure there is a complete risk register in place and is being maintained

·         To accept the greatest risks the Council is facing and recommend rationalising the scoring procedure among departments

A report was submitted by the Assistant Head of Finance (Revenue and Risk) updating the Committee on developments in risk management arrangements and the next implementation steps. Members were reminded that one of the Committee's statutory responsibilities was to review and assess the authority’s arrangements for risk management, internal control and corporate governance, in accordance with part 81(1)(c) of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011.

It was explained that the risk register was a live document and was updated appropriately to reflect the Council's actual position. With the support of the IT Department, a new Corporate Risk Register was launched in March 2021 to facilitate the system to retain the register on Sharepoint rather than on an Excel spreadsheet.  It was reported that the new system offers a user-friendly facility for users in all departments to prioritise, update and review the register; however, ongoing work was needed to ensure that the use of the register was consistent across the Council. It was added that the evolution of the Council's performance management arrangements also included a formal discussion regarding the risk register in departmental performance management meetings once a year. It was considered that this was a motivation for departments to update the register and the actions being developed to alleviate risks.

The context of the expectation was explained and it was noted that there were 300 risks on the register, including four that had not been scored.  The scoring system was discussed and the need to alleviate this risk as low as possible within the resources and the effort available within the Departments. 

A request was made for Members to submit observations regarding the best method to present the report in the future. It was highlighted that there were 23 very high risks and these had been included as an appendix to the report and it was emphasised that it was the Departments themselves who had set the score. The need to reconcile the system was accepted and although discussions had been held with every department to challenge every very high score, it was reported that the Departments were comfortable with the score issued on the register. Members were reminded that it was the responsibility of the Committee to ensure that a risk management system was in place and this did not mean that every individual risk would be considered in detail. However, if the Committee wished to receive further information regarding a specific risk, then it would be possible to invite the Departments to a meeting to expand on this risk. 

Thanks was given for the report

During the ensuing discussion, the following observations were made by members:

·         the impact of furlough needed to be reviewed

·         the tourism score needed to be reviewed

·         serious shortages in residential and nursing and home care provision - the score needed to be reviewed and the risks of staff leaving these services needed to be considered

·         safety of maritime staff - body cameras for the service needed to be prioritised

Observations regarding the content and format of the report in the future:

·         the headings needed to be reconciled

·         observations / risks needed to be reconciled prior to submission to committee - some of the risks were 'the department's everyday work'.

·         those that are really catastrophic and destructive needed to be identified

·         data, information, hard evidence of how the score is set was needed

·         It would be useful to include the 'likelihood' and 'impact' score as well as the risk score, in order that members can see how the risk score has been calculated  

·         There was a suggestion that a score reduction should be introduced to reflect the mitigation plans that had been implemented successfully together with an increase in score due to external factors that increase risk - highlighting likelihood and impact.

In response to the observations, the Head of Corporate Support noted that some of the observations were recognised and reflected in the priorities of the Council's Improvement Plan e.g. workforce planning together with staff health and safety.

In response to a suggestion by a member that departments scored risks very high as a means to attract additional funding to the Department, it was noted that formal arrangements were in place to review and challenge each financial bid submitted.  Therefore, even if individual departments did what was suggested, the comprehensive procedure of reviewing bids would identify this. 

RESOLVED
         

·         To accept the report as an update on the steps the Council is taking to ensure that a complete risk register is in place and is being maintained.

·         To accept the highest risks the Council is facing and recommend reconciling the scoring system within departments