Agenda item

Report of the Executive Director of Corporate Resources and Customer Services.

 

A presentation will be provided by the Assets and Property Manager on the Corporate Risk – ‘Condition of Assets’.

The Committee considered the report of the Executive Director of Corporate Resources and Customer Services which provided an update on the Corporate Risk Register as detailed in Appendix A to the report.

 

The Chief Internal Auditor (CIA) presented the report indicating that the ownership of the content of the Corporate Risk Register lay with the Strategic Leadership Board.

 

The CIA indicated that since the last meeting held on 15 March 2023 the following changes had been made to the Corporate Risk Register, namely:

 

·       The addition of three new risks, namely, Condition of Assets, Failure to comply with sections 1 and 10 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Requirement to work collaboratively with Sefton New Directions to review delivery model, in order to meet market requirements and promote financial sustainability; identify opportunities and future risk mitigation.

 

·       No risks had been de-escalated to the relevant Service Risk Register this quarter

 

The CIA informed the Committee of work undertaken on updating the Corporate Risk Management Handbook (Appendix B) to reflect recommendations from Risk Management Audit as well as the implementation of the Risk Appetite Framework approved by the Audit and Governance Committee on 15 March 2023.

 

The CIA also indicated that the Risk Management audit undertaken by Internal Audit provided an Internal Audit Opinion of ‘Moderate’ risk to the control environment. Also, other on-going initiatives to embed risk management within the Council, including Assurance Mapping and implementing the three lines model. 

 

The report identified three medium and two low priority recommendations for improvements to systems and processes, namely:

 

·       Clearly define the role of the Risk and Resilience Team and update the Risk Management Handbook.

·       Develop a checklist to assess each risk register against.

·       Ensure that the Risk Appetite Framework is included in the Risk Management Handbook.

·       Progress the risk management training with the Corporate Learning and Development Team and review how risk management information is shared across the Council.

·       Review whether managers received adequate notice of deadlines to return updated risk registers.

 

Following consideration of the report, the Committee received a presentation by the Service Manager – Property and Building Services on the condition of Sefton Council Assets.

 

Members of the Committee asked questions / commented on the following issues arising from the report and presentation:

 

·       Whether staff were provided training on completion of risk registers.

 

o   The CIA indicated that relevant risk register e-learning training course was being developed and would be rolled out for staff in due course.

 

·       The risk associated with non-completion of Freedom of Information (FOI) within the statutory timeframe of 20 working days.

 

o   The Chief Legal and Democratic Officer indicated that this issue was being addressed by the Information Management Executive group and was reported to Assistant Directors on a monthly basis

 

·       Disposal of Assets – Did the Council give any consideration to the advantages and disadvantages of disposing of assets prior to allocating them for disposal?

 

o   The Executive Director of Corporate Resources and Customer Services indicated that the asset maximisation programme which commenced in 2017 classified all assets into four specific buffers and only a certain category of assets were considered for disposal.

 

·       The Service Manager – Property and Building Services indicated that schools were classified as a different area to the assets discussed in the presentation.

 

·       Were staff consulted  during the assessment period of a building?

 

o   The Service Manager – Property and Building Services indicated that operational need is the key assessment factor but staff are also consulted. The Executive Director of Corporate Resources and Customer Services emphasised the success of agile working and the re-location of a number of teams into Magdalen House.

 

·       How much of an increase has there been in reactive costs from 2021-2022?

 

o   The Service Manager – Property and Building Services indicated that he would provide this information following the meeting.

 

 

RESOLVED: That

 

(1)	the updated Corporate Risk Register, the nature of the major risks facing the Council, and the controls and planned actions in place to mitigate these, be noted;
(2)	the revised Corporate Risk Management Handbook be approved;
(3)	the progress on the embedding of risk management within the Council be noted; and
(4)	the Service Manager – Property and Building Services be thanked for his informative and interesting presentation.