Issue - meetings

Report of the Executive Director of Corporate Resources and Customer Services

The Committee considered the report of the Executive Director of Corporate Resources and Customer Services on the updated Corporate Risk Register, indicating that since the last meeting the Corporate Risk Register had been reviewed and updated.

Mr David Eden, Chief Internal Auditor presented the report and answered questions thereon.  He indicated that two new risks had been added or escalated from the Service Risk Registers to the Corporate Risk Register, namely:

• Climate Change – Strategic Risk; and
• Inability to deliver the requirements and commitments for the Growth Programme.

No risks had been de-escalated from the Corporate Risk Register to the Service Risk Register or deleted from the Corporate Risk Register.

Mr Eden indicated that as highlighted in June, although there had been substantial work undertaken over the past six years to embed risk management across the Council, there was a gap in delivering key aspects of the Corporate Risk Management Handbook such as the regular updating of Service Risk Registers and updating the Corporate Risk Register and key actions had been set out to address these findings and progress was being monitored.

Mr Eden reminded the Committee that at the Audit and Governance Committee held on 18 December 2019, it had been agreed that for future meetings, a short presentation would be made by a risk owner on one of the risks listed in the Corporate Risk Register. In this respect, it had been agreed at last meeting that the Committee would receive a presentation on the risks associated with Children’s Social Care.

Accordingly, Ms Laura Knights, Head of Children’s Social Care was present at the meeting and briefed the Committee on the following risks associated with Children’s Social Care,the measures in place to mitigate those risks and answered questions thereon:

·       Failure to manage increasing demand for services.

·       Failure to plan within annual budget for increased placement costs for Children's Social Care.

·       The impact of regulatory framework and outcome of Joint Target Area Inspection.

RESOLVED: That