Issue - meetings

This report updates councillors on the position of the council’s Corporate Risk Register. The main updates are as follows:

·        No new risks have been added to the council’s Corporate Risk Register during the quarter.

·        Corporate Risk CR17 - Risk to Reputation of Place & Council if summer arrangements are not managed – has been de-escalated and is now being considered at service risk level.

·        There have no changes to risks scores during the quarter.

Each of the risks have been reviewed including the Actions Completed and the Actions Proposed. 

The Risk and Insurance Manager presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'D' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The report provided an update for the Committee on the Council’s Corporate Risk Register which also reflected the impact of the pandemic and included a summary of the changes to Corporate Risk during the second Quarter period of 2021/22. It confirmed that no new risks had been added to the Council’s Corporate Risk Register during the quarter.

There had also been no changes to risks scores during the quarter.

Each of the risks have been reviewed including the Actions Completed and the Actions Proposed and it was reported that Corporate Risk CR17 (Risk to Reputation of Place and Council if summer arrangements are not managed) had been de-escalated from the status of corporate risk and was now being considered at service risk level.   

The Committee was informed in respect of Corporate Risk 9 (Maintaining a Balanced Budget) that this was a standard item on the risk register and that an update would be provided to the Cabinet in December to reflect in particular the impact of the recent National Government budget settlement and how this would translate in fact to the BCP Council. The Committee welcomed the level of detail being provided for them under this Corporate Risk heading in terms of the mitigations in place. On the subject of Organisational Transformation and associated savings predictions, there had been separate reports to both the Overview and Scrutiny Board and to Cabinet and this subject would continue to be kept under close review and be reported on again to the Audit and Governance Committee.

Members welcomed the opportunities that had been arranged for Member briefing seminars on these budget issues and there was support for taking this model of briefing forward into other areas.

In relation to Corporate Risk 4 (Information Technology) and 11 (Efficient Delivery of Services), the Committee highlighted their concerns about the important subject of the interface between the Council and the public and the difficulties and frustrations that the public were reporting through Councillors. The Risk and Insurance Manager undertook to raise this with the Chief Executive and the appropriate lead officer as part of the report on the Quarterly risk and to include this in the next update report to the Committee. The Chairman to be involved in the discussion with the lead officer in order to represent and input the views of Members.

The Committee also raised similar concerns about how the current performance of the Planning system was potentially affecting the reputation of the Council and it was agreed that consideration should be given to including both these subjects as corporate risks going forward. Review of the way in which performance data on this subject area was collected and assessed would also be included.

The Committee was also provided with an update on good and continuing progress with service development.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 40