Issue - meetings

Annual Risk Management Report

Meeting: 15/03/2021 - Audit, Governance and Standards Committee (Item 183)

183 Annual Risk Management Report pdf icon PDF 131 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Deputy Head of Audit Partnership introduced the report and highlighted the importance of the Risk Management Framework (RMF) in delivering the Council’s objectives. The RMF was last reviewed in 2019. In referencing Appendix 1 to the report, the three levels of risk identified were corporate, operational and project risks. 

 

Risk owners were expected to actively manage the risks that fell above the Council’s tolerance, which would be demonstrated through categorisation in the red or black areas within the risk matrix. A quarterly update on the corporate risks was provided to the Policy and Resources Committee.

 

The Risk Management Plan aimed to continually improve risk management, including the potential implementation of software to create, generate and increase the efficiency of the intelligence used for risk management purposes.

 

In response to questions, the Deputy Head of Audit Partnership confirmed that there had been increased engagement with the Corporate and Wider Leadership Teams from the outset of the pandemic on the corporate risk register. The Policy and Resources Committee now received quarterly updates detailing all of the corporate level risks, as opposed to the previous 6-monthly updates.

 

Further explanation was given regarding the evaluation of risks against the impact categories, in that the risks were scored against all of the categories, not just finance. Detailed risk registers were maintained and would show individual impact scores against each category. The Deputy Head of Audit Partnership stated that the RMF was reviewed annually, which included risk appetite and tolerance, and that this took into account whether the levels of impact needed to be re-adjusted. The Corporate Leadership Team received quarterly updates on the RMF.

 

The Director of Finance and Business Improvement confirmed that the risks surrounding the Council’s pensions scheme were considered from the Council’s budget risks, rather than within the Risk Register, as it related to payroll costs.

 

RESOLVED: That the Risk Management Annual Report attached at Appendix 1 to the report, be discussed and noted.