Agenda item

To consider report LDS/203 of the Head of Governance, People & Performance.

The Committee considered report LDS/203 of the Head of Governance, People & Performance which provided an update on the Council’s Strategic Risks.

The Corporate Performance Manager took the opportunity to brief the Committee on the risks as detailed in the report, and in doing so highlighted that, following the Committee’s request at its last meeting, for ease of reference the risk score had been added to the Strategic Risk Register for each individual risk matrix.

A detailed discussion then took place regarding the Strategic Risk Register.  The Committee sought and received clarification on several issues including the steps being taken by the Council to mitigate the migration / asylum pressures (Risk 7), ongoing action being taken to reduce the risk of IT data breaches (Risk 10) and the current risk focus relating to the new Town Hall (Risk 1).

In response to specific matters raised by the Committee:

·       The link between risk score (no controls), mitigations and risk score (post mitigation) was explained in further detail.

·       It was noted that external factors were more difficult to mitigate as they were beyond the Council’s control.

·       A brief explanation was given as to the fundamental differences between Local Government accounting/budgeting and that of the commercial sector.

·       The Committee noted that not all areas in the United Kingdom were impacted as heavily by the new legislation passed to provide those with Chagossian descent UK Citizenship entitlement.  Crawley Borough Council was linking with other Local Authorities which were especially affected to share information and lobby for additional funding.

·       That further information with regard to the potential risks and associated mitigations resulting from staff remote working be sought from the Head of Digital and Transformation and reported back to the next meeting of the Audit Committee.

A discussion took place regarding Risk 13 (organisational capacity, recruitment and succession planning) and Risk 14 (organisational capacity, recruitment and succession planning: key staff retirement) with the Committee questioning whether the risk levels attributed were high enough.  In response to the concerns raised, more detailed information was provided regarding mitigations such as SharePoint, induction, training and the current annual report to the Overview and Scrutiny Commission.  The Committee continued to be of the view that the risk scores for Risks 13 and 14 should be higher and, whilst it understood that those risks would continue to be reviewed at future meetings of the Committee, it requested that the Cabinet and the Chief Executive review those risk scores before the next Audit Committee meeting.

It was requested that, should Committee Members have specific queries in future, particularly in relation to understanding a service area’s processes and procedures, those matters be passed to the relevant officer in advance of the Committee meeting.

RESOLVED

a)    That the Committee confirm it is satisfied with risk management arrangements.

b)    That the comments provided by the Committee regarding Risk 13 (organisational capacity, recruitment and succession planning) and Risk 14 (organisational capacity, recruitment and succession planning: key staff retirement) be brought to the attention of the Chief Executive and the Cabinet.