To receive a report from the Group Manager - Insights & Transformation.

The Group Manager - Insights and Transformation Manager presented Members with the Risk Management Report, pages 73 to 82 of the Agenda refer.

The purpose of the report was to provide Members with an overview of Risk Management within the authority. The Strategic Risk Register had been reviewed at the quarterly risk clinic and by Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and the report provided Members with the Quarter 2 position statement as at 30 September 2022.   Members were informed that a draft Risk Management Framework for the Partnership was currently in development and would be presented to Committee on 15 March 2023 for discussion and review, Paragraph 1.3 of the Agenda refers.

Members were advised that there had been no changes to the scoring on the risk register from the last meeting and the risks with Assistants Directors across the Partnership were currently being reviewed.  It was highlighted to Members that currently the highest risks to the Council remained as Council Income and Economic Recovery.

Members were invited to put their comments and questions forward.

·       A Member highlighted that recently a letter had been sent to government relating to a local government review and based upon the experience of the Council becoming part of a Partnership queried whether a risk needed adding if the Partnership was to move to a unitary authority.  The Insights and Transformation Manager advised Members that she would pick this up with the Assistant Director for a review.

·       A Member considered that due to the cost-of-living crisis, there may be additional cost pressures that would remain and ultimately fed down into disposable income which would impact on people visiting the coast, impacting the Council’s income levels and queried whether it would be possible to have a more granular investigation in these areas.

·       A Member referred to Risk CORP002 – Uncertainty of future Lincshore flood defence scheme and considered that this was a serious risk to the Council, the economy and lives, therefore should be rated as a high risk.  A brief discussion following which Members agreed that ultimately it all depended on timescales and every year that passed increased the risk.  It was further highlighted that this was a high risk on the national risk register and should be on the local register.  The Insights and Transformation Manager advised Members that this had already been raised with the Assistant Director, Planning and Strategic Infrastructure and would seek a response for Committee.

·       Further to the risk with flooding, a Member queried whether there should also be a risk for climate change.

·       A Member commented that in terms of the process, there was a risk appetite table at the end of the register, however, could not see where this had been applied.  Clarity was also requested for confirmation as to who the risks were attributed to and why there was no detail for when the risks were introduced, target dates for mitigation and what the scoring was.  It was further considered that it would be useful to have heat maps to see where the risk lived and asked if this would be taken into consideration as part of the risk management framework.

It was further highlighted that there were some risks that were no longer valid, for example CORP0011 ‘Delivery of office relocation project’ and items that should be added, for example resulting impacts on fuel costs from the war in Ukraine.  The Insights and Transformation Manager advised Members that the risk appetite was set pre-Covid and wasn’t currently live.  As part of the risk management framework, Members and officers would sit together to set the risk appetite moving forward.

Following which, Members were assured that the report presented in March would be up to date and confirmed that the risk management framework to be presented to the next meeting would be in draft form for Members to feed back into.

·       A concern was raised whether the high turnover of staff was a risk that needed to be addressed as this could affect council services.

Following which it was,

RESOLVED

That the Risk Management Report be noted.