This report provides an update on the Council’s 2018/19 Strategic Risk Register, in line with the requirements of the Council’s risk management strategy.

Paul Harrington, Chief Auditor, submitted a schedule updating the Committee on the Q3 status of the Council’s 2018/19 Strategic Risk Register (SRR), in line with the requirements of the Council’s Risk Management Strategy.  The SRR was attached to the report at Appendix 1.

The report explained that the SRR had been developed to provide a focused and high level overview of strategic risks for staff, councillors and other stakeholders, and was supplemented by more detailed directorate, service and project risk registers.  The primary aim of the Strategic Risk Register was to identify those key vulnerabilities that needed to be closely monitored.  Risk appetite had been introduced to the SRR in 2018, which established the level of risk that an organisation was willing to seek or accept in order to meet its long term objectives. This approach was consistent with the Institute of Risk Management which advised that risk appetite should be identified for each risk.  In order to focus attention on areas of greatest risk, the SRR should only include the key current risks that did not exceed the risk appetite level. As a result, it was recommended that where risks had been rated as ‘green’ for two or more consecutive quarters they should be removed from the Register and would only be re-instated should the risk level rise again.

The SRR highlighted ten risks, eight of which were rated as ‘red’ as follows: delivering a sustainable Medium Term Financial Plan/ achieve a balanced budget; data management; governance procedures; failure of a major contract; insufficient vision and strategy for regeneration and economic growth; inadequate mitigation to reduce risk of injury or death in Council residential accommodation and private high rise; failure to develop and maintain key partner relationships; and risk of death, harm or injury to vulnerable people.

Resolved:   

(1)           That the Strategic Risk Register be noted;

(2)           That risks that had been rated as ‘green’ for two or more consecutive quarters be removed from the Register and only be re-instated in the event that they exceeded the risk ‘appetite’ level again.