Report of the Director of Finance and Resources (Section 151 Officer)
Minutes:
The Audit and Procurement Committee considered a report of the Director of Finance and Resources (Section 151 Officer), that provided the Committee with the outcome of the review of the Corporate Risk Register 2025-26, incorporating an overview of the Council’s corporate risk profile and the controls in place to address these risks.
The Audit and Procurement Committee’s Terms of Reference required the Committee to monitor the effective development and operation of risk management within the Council. It was agreed on 18th March 2024 that the Committee would receive the Corporate Risk Register twice a year, in line with the Grant Thornton value for money report.
It was acknowledged that by having arrangements in place to identify and manage risks, the Council increased its chance of achieving corporate and operational objected and reduced the chance of failure. Good risk management also increased ability to cope with developing and uncertain events. The Corporate Risk Register should identify the risks that threaten the successful implementation of the One Coventry Plan.
The Corporate Risk Register, set out at Appendix 1 of the report, had been reviewed in consultation with the Leadership Board and Risk Owner. It identified the main risks facing the Council, the impact of the risk, the inherent risk score before mitigation, the risk score after mitigations were applied and where responsibility lay for the Council’s response. The Register also indicated what the risk score had been when the Committee last received a report in September 2024.
The report indicated that there had been one risk added to the Register:
Risk 40 – Mainstream Education Sufficiency.
The following 3 risks had been removed from the Register:
Risk 28 – A deterioration in industrial / employee relations affects the Council’s ability to deliver vital services.
Risk 29 – The continued implementation of the Elections Act
Risk 31 – A Council that makes thoughtful, well researched and robust business cases backed commercial investments to derive additional sustainable income streams to the Council, so that it has additional funds to provide services to residents, deliver policy priorities, and achieve its One Coventry Plan through being more financially robust.
In addition, the residual risk score for Risk 22 – Children’s Services Workforce Stability had been reduced from 20 to 16. There were no risks where the residual risk score had increased or where the inherent risk score had changed but the residual risk score remained the same.
Following questions from the Committee, it was confirmed that it was not always the case that when mitigation was implemented that the residual risk would change and that, at times, the ability to mitigate a risk may be different as a result of internal and external factors. The Committee also requested that, in future reports, the use of colours red, amber, green be amended due to reports being printed in black and white.
RESOLVED that, the Audit and Procurement Committee:
1. Notes the content of the Corporate Risk Register, having satisfied themselves that corporate risks are being identified and managed.
2. Confirm that they did not identify any areas where they require additional information.
3. Approve the bringing of a further risk management report to the Audit and Procurement Committee in September 2025.
Supporting documents: