Agenda item

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place)

The Committee considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place), which set out the current Corporate Risk Register to provide the Committee with an overview of the Council’s corporate risk profile and the controls in place to address these risks.

The Committee were aware that Local Government is currently operating within an environment of substantial budget cuts and major policy changes with significant impact on service delivery and organisational structures.  The pace and scale of change requires the Council to constantly asses its risk profile and implement suitable controls to manage those risks.

There is a requirement within the Council’s Risk Management Policy and Strategy that the Audit and Procurement Committee received and consider reports on the Corporate Risk Register in order to discharge their responsibilities in respect of risk management.

The report submitted covered only those risks that are viewed as the most critical for the Council and considered at the corporate level.  Risk management activity continued at other levels throughout the Council, dealing with risks of a lower rating.

The Corporate Risk Register was set out at Appendix 1 of the report submitted and fell into two separate categories, operational / business as usual and specific / project risks.  It provided detail of the risks and the control measures in place to address them.

The operational / business as usual risks were those that could affect the underlying and fundamental operations and structure of the Council and included:

·  CR 001 – Finance

·  CR 006 – Adult Social Care

·  CR 007 – Safeguarding / Protecting Vulnerable Adults, Children and Families

·  CR 013 – Creation of a Combined Authority for the West Midlands and agreement of a Devolution Deal

·  CR 014 – Information Governance

·  CR 016- Failure to comply with Health and Safety Legislation.

The specific / project risks were those that could affect specific projects or the major change initiatives to how the Council operate and included:

·  CR 002 – Sky Blue Sports and Leisure

·  CR 003 – ICT Infrastructure and Change

·  CR 005 – Workforce Strategy

·  CR 011 – Friargate Business Districts

·  CR 017 – City Centre South

·  CR 018 – Coventry Station Masterplan.

The Committee were advised that there had been some changes to the Risk Register from when they had last considered this matter and that CR 010 – Kickstart (Move to Friargate) and CR 015 – Historic Abuse had been removed from the register.  CR 018 – Coventry Station Masterplan had been included as a new risk.

In considering the risks identified, the Members outlined their concern regarding contract management, in particular whether the Council’s existing employees have the required skill sets to undertake contract management efficiently effectively.  They requested details of steps being taken to ensure that relevant staff have the required skills.

RESOLVED that the Audit and Procurement Committee:

1.  Note the current Corporate Risk Register and indicated that they were satisfied that the Corporate Risks are being identified and managed.

2.  Request information on steps being taken to ensure that relevant staff have the required skill sets to undertake contract management.