Issue - meetings

Report of the Executive Manager – Finance and Corporate Services.

The Service Manager – Finance and Corporate Services presented a report to update the Group on the Council’s Risk Management Strategy following a Risk Management Health Check by Zurich Municipal in late 2019, explaining that the strategy is reviewed annually by the Risk Management Group, and Governance Scrutiny Group provides scrutiny of the risk registers twice a year.

The Service Manager – Finance and Corporate Services informed the Group of four recommendations made by Zurich in the Risk Management Health Check, these were to:

·       Articulate the Council’s appetite to risk across risk categories

·       Consider a formalised approach to opportunity risk management

·       Consider training for Governance Scrutiny Group members

·       Develop guidance for managing risks with partners and projects

The Service Manager – Finance and Corporate Services continued to advise how these recommendations had been addressed and provided examples as follows:

·       An approach to risk appetite has been added to the revised strategy, which guides how much risk the Council is willing to accept to achieve its objectives.

·       The Council has an entrepreneurial approach to seizing opportunities and has been able to successfully manage its finances throughout a challenging period of austerity while ensuring the delivery of major projects with lasting benefit to residents in the Borough.

·       Member training was delivered by Zurich on 2 September 2020

·       Project risk is considered separately within contract negotiations with partners, and guidance for officers has been developed for managing project risks.

The Chairman highlighted the training that Zurich had provided and emphasised the interest and shift in types of risk and in particular the approach to opportunity risk management going forward.

Members asked specific questions relating to quantifying risk, and how the Council mitigate for risk and the financial implications associated with it and whether particular officers associated with the risk title could be named for reference. The Executive Manager – Transformation explained that at the Governance meeting in February more information on quantifying risk will be included in the report, however, in respect of officer title this is difficult to label due to changes in staffing.

It was RESOLVED that the Group note the Risk Management Strategy including the recommendations and suggestions about the strategy.