Agenda item

[To note the latest summary of the Council’s corporate risk register, and the main sources of assurance available to show that the risks are being mitigated]

Narinder Phagura, Strategic Risk Manager outlined the salient points of the report on the key risks the Council faced and how it could gain assurance that the risks are being mitigated.  The Strategic Risk Manager also drew the Committee’s attention to a reduction in the assessment of some risks from Red to Amber or from Amber to Green.

During the discussion Mike Ager, Independent Member welcomed the development of the risk report into a more useful document.  He asked where the Committee could obtain independent assurance on risk 17 (The Care Act) and risk 19 (Combined Authority).  The Strategic Risk Manager reported that the Care Act came into effect on 1 April.  Prior to then Internal Audit worked with the Department for Health.  Internal Audit would now be undertaking a stock take (one off assessment).  It would be reviewing whether there are any areas to consider further as well as the second phase of the Care Act.  A Programme Board had been established to manage the risk.  Internal Audit would keep a watching brief to ensure there are no issues of concern.  Regarding the Combined Authority, she reported that the building blocks for this new area of activity were being put in place.

Referring to risk ref 10 (Economic Inclusion), Cllr Phil Bateman reported that economic inclusion was a key building block for the city going forward; and the city still needed the economic development activity to continue.  The Committee would need to keep a close eye on this because the timescales involved were so long.  He suggested that the Council identify other indicators to help it better determine the level of the risk and to help the Council to achieve its economic inclusion aims.  He indicated that he did not believe the Council was collecting enough economic data or was good at that type of data. He queried how Internal Audit could show that the economic inclusion target had been delivered if the data remained patchy.  Cllr Craig Collingswood noted that performance had improved from 15 Red to 12 Amber and that it was heading in the right direction.

Cllr Stephen Simkins commented that the Council was exposed to external bodies over which it had no control and whom had their own targets and priorities to achieve ahead of contributing to the delivery of the Council’s.  He asked how the Council could work with and influence outside bodies in order to achieve its targets.  The Strategic Risk Manager reported that the Wolverhampton Skills Commission would be considering that question.  The Commission would be developing its action plan and their success and influence could be judged by the delivery of their action plan.

Regarding risk ref 1 (Looked After Children), Cllr Simkins also asked when the Council would see to benefits of the extra resources allocated to Looked After Children (LAC).  Mark Taylor, Director of Finance reported that following an initial reduction, LAC numbers had plateaued. The Service had also been reconfigured by Linda Sanders, Strategic Director People and the service was working with the Council’s Legal Service in terms of Care Orders.  Ambitious targets had been included in the budget for 2016/17 relating to LAC and he anticipated that the Council should begin to see in year savings in LAC budget and a reduction in funding in the following year.

Resolved:

1.    That the strategic risk register be noted.

2.    That the reduction in the assessment of the following risk be noted:

·           Risk 2- Skills for work

·           Risk 8- Business continuity management

·           Risk 10- Economic inclusion

·           Risk 14 – School improvement

·           Risk 15 – Emergency planning

3.    That the transfer of risk 6 – Compliance with the Public Services Network to the corporate services directorate risk register. In June 2015, the Council received certification for the next 12 months. However, as there will be on-going work to do to remove legacy solutions and to upgrade systems to ensure future compliance it is proposed that this be overseen at an operational level rather than the strategic level.

4.    That the closure and removal of risk 18 – Elections from the strategic risk register be noted.

5.    That it  be noted that although some progress has been made in the mitigation of risk 17 – Employee Management since last reported, further actions are being implemented to ensure this risk is mitigated to an acceptable level. As a result the target date has been amended to reflect this.

6.    That the main sources of assurance available to the Council against its strategic risks be noted.

7.    That a report on the progress on the transformation of the Looked After Service be presented to a future meeting.