The Director of Finance and Business Improvement introduced his report providing an update on the budget risks facing the Council.  It was noted that:

·  The principal budget risk faced by the Council was a resurgence of COVID-19.  The experience of the last financial year showed that this would have a major impact on the Council’s finances although in the event a combination of Government grant and the Council’s own mitigation measures more than offset the impact of the pandemic last year.

·  In the medium term, general economic conditions and uncertainty about future funding arrangements for local government posed further potential risks.

·  A major external risk previously identified was potential adverse financial outcomes from a disorderly Brexit.  The risk had been downgraded in the last two versions of the Budget Risk Register and it was now proposed to remove it completely.

·  There was another risk in the Corporate Risk Register which it was appropriate to include in the Budget Risk Register, namely IT Security Failure.  Whilst measures were in place to guard against it, a successful cyber attack on the Council would almost certainly have significant financial implications.

During the discussion, it was pointed out that risk Q (Financial impact from IT security failure) had been included twice in the budget risk rankings.

In response to suggestions, the Director of Finance and Business Improvement undertook to redefine risk P to read “Financial impact from a resurgence of COVID-19 if the Government does not support the Council as it has done to date”.

RESOLVED:  That subject to the points set out above, the updated risk assessment of the Budget Strategy, attached as Appendix A to the report of the Director of Finance and Business Improvement, be noted.