Agenda item

The Director of Finance, Assets and IT will submit a report outlining the progress made to date towards the achievement of the goals set out in the Council’s Risk Management Policy and signposting further work to be undertaken in the year.

The Risk and Governance Manager presented a report of the Director of Finance, Assets and IT outlining the progress made to date towards the achievement of the goals set out in the Council’s Risk Management Policy and Signposting further work to be undertaken in the year.

The following matters were highlighted:

·         The report sought to provide suitable assurances that the Risk Management Framework remained fit for purpose

·         The Committee was reminded that the Register had been updated in October 2016 and the outcomes reported to the meeting on the 7^th December, 2016 and to Cabinet on the 11^th January, 2017

·         The Council’s Operational Risk Registers remained aligned to the Future Council operating model and the Risk Management Framework had been reviewed in April 2016

·         The Risk and Governance Manager also reported that he continued to support the development of risk management arrangement for a number or organisations in the area.  Arising out of this the Manager reported that the Learning and Development Awareness sessions could be delivered to Member of this Committee

·         The Annual Governance Review process had been delivered during the early part of 2016/17 and this had resulted in the production of an evidence based Annual Governance Statement which had been approved by the Council in September 2016

·         The outcomes of the recent Association of Local Authority Risk Managers (ALARM) and CIPFA benchmarking exercises suggested that the outputs and overall maturity of the Council’ Risk Management arrangements were broadly in line with similar Councils and peer organisations

·         The Risk Management Workplan for 2016/17 was being regularly monitored and reviewed to ensure the delivery of the identified actions outlined

·         There was a discussion of the Benchmarking Outcomes in relation to the difficulties of providing accurate analysis against previous years.  It was anticipated that benchmarking  results for 2016/17 would see improvements going forward

·         It was noted that there had been a reduction in the percentage of Operational Risk Register Reviews being completed on time between quarter one and quarter 2.  This was thought to be a blip due to holidays.  Arising out of this discussion, the Risk and Governance Manager reported that his service was in the process of being audited and this was likely to be an area of focus for the auditors.  Any issues identified or any non-compliance would be reported to a future meeting

RESOLVED

(i)            that the Risk Management Update report and the robustness of the assurances provided be noted; and

(ii)          that the Committee continue to receive periodic reports during the year in order to monitor the progress in achieving the actions identified for 2016/17.