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Agenda item

Strategic Risk Register

Purpose:

The report brings to Members the current version of the Strategic Risk Register for information and assurance that risks to the Council are being managed and appropriate actions are being taken to mitigate risk.

 

Recommendations:

That the Audit and Governance Committee resolves to:

1.    Note the report.

 

Invited:

Cheryl Sloan - Business Manager Governance, Risk & Business Continuity

 

 

 

Minutes:

Andrea McCaskie, Director of Governance, presented a report that brought Members the current version of the Strategic Risk Register for information and assurance that risks to the Council were being managed and appropriate actions were being taken to mitigate risk.

All updates to the commentary since the 25 July 2024 Audit and Governance Committee meeting were shown in red, along with a direction of travel column, which showed if the risk had either increased / red (got worse), decreased / green (reduced in risk) or stayed the same since the last time it was reported to the Committee.

There was a summary of some of the key changes / updates:

  • ER1 Cyber Attack. The risk was increased to reflect the recent Cyber incident at Tewkesbury Council and a heightened risk awareness for potential cyber-attacks on the Council’s network. This risk had subsequently been reduced to previous levels following the closure of this incident.
  • ER4 Refugees / Asylum Seekers. The risk was increased following the recent unrest seen across the UK. During the time additional measures were put in place and Tactical Coordinating Groups stood up. This risk had subsequently been reduced.
  • SR1 Major Civil Emergency. The risk was increased in response to the impact on 365 cover due to the transition of services. A short and long-term solution had now been agreed, including a S113 agreement between the three partner councils, including West Oxfordshire District Council for the short-term, to provide time for each council to develop a locality based cover from 1 April 2025.
  • SR2 Climate Emergency and Climate Adaptation. The risk had been renamed following a request from the Executive to include ‘Climate Adaptation’.
  • SR4 5 Year Land Supply. This was a new risk as requested by the Audit and Governance Committee in July.

 

Based on various questions and queries from Members the following points were explained:

  • A RAG rating of yellow could potentially be mitigated down to green and would not necessarily be removed from the register.
  • This was considered a live document and any situations that changed would be highlighted and constantly kept under review. There were monthly internal meetings that would be looking into all the service areas and then presented in a useful way.
  • In terms of the five-year land supply, the Council was awaiting the new national guidance and would be waiting on the MPPF and what impact that would have.

 

The recommendations were as follows and a third recommendation was added by the Director of Governance; however, the report would be brought back to the next meeting and recommendations agreed at that meeting as there was an urgent situation and the meeting was ended.

 

1. Approve the implementation of the new Customer Complaints Policy and Procedure.

2. Note the revised Staff Personal Safety Policy.

3. Delegate authority to the Business Manager for Governance, Risk & Business Continuity in consultation with the Chair of Audit and Governance Committee and the Director of Governance, to make any minor amendments required to finalise the document to reflect the discussion, correct typographical errors or otherwise strengthen and improve the policies in advance of publication.

 

Supporting documents:

 

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