Agenda item

This report provides an update on risk management within the Council and presents a revised sovereign strategy and corporate risk register for consideration.

David Hughes (Director of Audit, Fraud, Risk and Insurance) and Mike Sloniowski (Risk Manager) presented the report that gave an update on risk management within the Council. David Hughes noted that the risk register presented as part of the report received regular review by the Council’s Strategic Leadership Team.

Mike Sloniowski highlighted the following key risks:

·         Risk 26, No-deal Brexit – The Council’s preparations for Brexit (continuity planning etc.) were ongoing and there had been a lot of activity in the last quarter.

·         Risk 3, Commercial & Procurement – There had been positive movement on commercial and procurement with a refresh of the Council’s approach to social value and more robust monitoring of contracts and spend.

·         Risk 5, Business Resilience - H&F was a leading authority on business resilience with its community emergency response website.

·         Risk 6, Information management – In addition to the work the Council had been doing to improve general data management and cyber-security there had been a number of recommendations made to reduce the number of data breaches in Children’s Services. Training had been provided to staff and technical controls had been put in place.

·         Risk 33, Hammersmith Bridge – The Council was exploring installing a bailey bridge for pedestrians and cyclists to remove them from Hammersmith Bridge and speed up construction.

The Chair noted there was a new risk around preparedness for a snap general election and asked if the Council was looking at the level of voter registration in the borough. Mike Sloniowski said the Council had a very well administered elections team and voter registration was a high priority for them.

Councillor Alex Karmel, in reference to Risk 32, asked where the property with the notice of deficiency was located. Mike Sloniowski said he would check with colleagues and update members by email.

ACTION: Mike Sloniowski

Councillor Alex Karmel, in reference to Risk 33, asked how advanced plans were for the proposed bailey bridge and whether the cost of that was included in the £25m budget or whether it would be a further draw on the Council’s resources. Hitesh Jolapara (Strategic Director of Finance and Governance) said he would discuss with Sharon Lea (Strategic Director for Environment) and provide a response.

ACTION: Hitesh Jolapara / Sharon Lea

Councillor PJ Murphy, in reference to Risk 21, noted that King Street Civic Campus was one of the Council’s biggest projects and asked if the team responsible was getting all of the help and support they required to make a success of it. Mike Sloniowski reported that he and David Hughes were attending the programme management team meetings to provide support where necessary.

The Chair, in reference to Risk 19, asked if officers were confident that the coroner’s office was now operating correctly. Mike Sloniowski reported that the responsible Assistant Director, Rhian Davies was confident it was well managed from the Council’s perspective. A lot effort had been put in to support the service.

Councillor PJ Murphy noted that a recent report to the Finance, Commercial Revenue and Contracts Policy & Accountability Committee had a ‘red risk’ for the mortuary service. Mike Sloniowski said that risk related to no-deal Brexit and the supply of certain chemicals required for the process.

Councillor Alex Karmel noted that the Coroner’s Office was responsible for the majority of bodies flown in to Heathrow. He asked officers if they were confident the service had the necessary planning and capacity in place to deal with the potential disruption caused by repatriation in a no-deal Brexit scenario. Mike Sloniowski replied that the service’s contingency plan was being actively reviewed last week – he would check if it had been completed. David Hughes noted that internal and external reviews of the Coroners Service had taken place recently and received positive assurance from both.

ACTION: Mike Sloniowski

RESOLVED

That the Committee noted the contents of the report and considered the contents of the corporate risk register.