Issue - meetings

(a)          That the summary of strategic risks related to the Improvement Priorities of the Council be noted; and

(b)          That the intent to refresh the Council’s approach to risk management as part of streamlining and integrating the business planning arrangements be endorsed.

The Chief Executive presented an overview of key risks to the achievement of the Council’s Improvement Priorities together with work to further improve the approach to risk management as part of business planning arrangements.  He provided information on the work undertaken by the Internal Audit Manager and his team to verify improvements from the new approach to managing risks, which had been reflected in the Wales Audit Office (WAO) Corporate Assessment to be made available in the New Year.

In presenting a summary of risks for the Improvement Priorities at September 2014, the Policy & Performance Manager highlighted ten from across the Authority showing an increase since June 2014.  Many of these were due to external factors outside the Council’s control, for example, dependency on Welsh Government (WG) funding, which demonstrated that most internal risks were being managed well.  Whilst acknowledging the improved approach to risk management, the work undertaken by Internal Audit and WAO had identified the need to address some areas of inconsistency.  In response to this, the revised approach being taken by the Chief Officer Team would be reported to a future meeting of the Committee.

Mr. Paul Williams sought clarification on the ‘red’ target score allocated to three ‘red’ risk areas under the Financial Strategy sub-priority.  The Chief Executive provided explanation on the timing of factors such as ongoing work on the strategy to close the Council’s financial gap, confirmation awaited on the local government final settlement and uncertainty around specific grants.  Although consultation on the draft strategy for the 2015/16 budget was due to take place with Overview & Scrutiny Committees in January 2015, this would need to be viewed as a democratic risk as the acceptability of the budget proposals were yet to be fully tested.

RESOLVED:

(a)          That the summary of strategic risks related to the Improvement Priorities of the Council be noted; and

(b)          That the intent to refresh the Council’s approach to risk management as part of streamlining and integrating the business planning arrangements be endorsed.