Agenda item

The Director of Finance, Assets and Information Services will submit a response to the report of the External Auditor (KPMG) on the Local Authority Corporate Risk Register Analysis 2015/16 following the completion of a gap analysis of the Authority’s own risk management arrangements undertaken as a direct response to that report.

The Director of Finance, Assets and Information Services submitted a response to the report of the External Auditor (KPMG) on the local authority corporate risk register analysis 2015/16, referred to at Minute 6 above, following the completion of a gap analysis of the Authority’s own risk management arrangements undertaken as a direct response to that report.

The analysis considered the extent to which Barnsley MBC’s risk register included the most frequent risks featured across all local authority risk registers.  In addition, the analysis undertaken by KPMG focused on: whether local authorities use specific software to support risk management; how often strategic risks were reported and the responsibilities of officers and Members in the strategic risk review process; and how developed were the Council’s arrangements regarding corporate assurance mapping.

A gap analysis of the Council’s strategic risk register against the KPMG analysis identified the following:-

·         The Council’s risk register identified key risks that corresponded closely to those identified in the KPMG analysis.  There were two significant red risks on Barnsley’s strategic risk register relating to health inequalities and emergency resilience.  The recent review of the strategic risk register had sought to provide greater clarity in relation to the Council’s ability to respond to emergency incidents and its own resilience by dividing business continuity/emergency resilience risk into two.  In addition, a further risk in relation to the governance arrangements from the emerging Sheffield City Region Devolution Deal had been included.

·         In terms of the risk register reporting and responsibilities, it was noted that there were no significant gaps in Barnsley’s strategic risk register, with the exception that lead Members were not identified for specific risks or risk management itself.  It was noted that this was only the case in 19% of local authorities.

·         Barnsley MBC was one of the few local authorities that used specialist risk management software, which ensured the uniform and consistent recording of risks, the maintenance of version control and allowed the reporting and aggregation of risk to be performed more easily.

·         Barnsley MBC had begun to develop a corporate assurance map to assist in identifying and addressing gaps in assurance, to provide evidence on which to base the annual audit plan and provide a mechanism to link assurances from various sources against key governance controls. 

RESOLVED that the response to the KPMG analysis of the Council’s risk management arrangements, as set out in the report now submitted, be approved.