Issue - meetings

The Leader of the Council submitted a report on the action taken to mitigate and control strategic risks during the period January 2015 to March 2015.

The Head of Governance and Risk Management provided a background summary of the report and the monitoring arrangements and advised that any new risks would be reported to Audit Committee in September 2015.

Councillor R Deering queried the statement regarding robustness of the contract management process regarding 14-SR3 ((Risk that supplier / contractor or key third sector partner fails or fails to deliver).  The Director of Finance and Support Services explained that key suppliers were monitored as part of contract performance and summarised the internal processes in place to ensure that systems continued to be robust and challenging.

The Head of Governance and Risk Management advised that the Shared Internal Audit Service would shortly be reviewing procurement and contract management as part of the audit plan.

In response to a query from Councillor J Cartwright regarding the timeframe of the report, the Director of Finance and Support Services acknowledged the unfortunate timing of the report and referred to the need to report certain issues to specific Audit Committees.  She referred Members to Covalent should they require more up to date information, or to speak to Officers who could assist.

In response to a query from Councillor I Devonshire regarding 14-SR1 (Risk of Significant Reduction in funding above that planned for), the Director of Finance and Support Services referred to the budget assumptions made in the last Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) and the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s recent budget statement of intent and how this could impact significantly on the Council in 2016/17 in terms of central government funding.  She stated that further information would become available following the Autumn Statement and Local Government finance settlement, which was likely to be in November or December 2015.

The Director of Finance and Support Services explained internal management responsibility arrangements following the retirement of the former Chief Executive with regard to risk management.

The Committee approved the report, as now detailed. 

RESOLVED – that the action taken to mitigate and control strategic risks be approved.