Agenda item

This report provides an update on risk management across the Council.

David Hughes (Director of Audit, Fraud, Risk and Insurance) presented the report which provided an update on risk management across the Council.

Councillor Rowan Ree noted the climate change risk and asked how officers were determining risk in that area and if there was any best practice to follow. David Hughes said officers looked at work being carried out across London and nationally and the arrangements in place in the borough – both emergency planning to mitigate extreme weather events and efforts across departments to mitigate the Council’s carbon footprint.

The Chair asked if the overarching climate change risk would be split up in future. Specific areas like flooding seemed to warrant their own separate entries. He also asked if any claims had been made against the Council related to recent flooding events. David Hughes said the Council worked very closely with Thames Water to actively monitor sewers and drains in the borough to see where there were potential pressures. He noted that Hammersmith & Fulham had seen fewer insurance claims than other boroughs in central London, but it may be a risk in future. The Environment department was looking at a range of mitigate measures to combat flooding.

Kim Smith (Chief Executive) endorsed the idea of disaggregating the climate risks. On the recent floods she noted that the Council had established a monthly Flooding Board which the Strategic Director of the Environment chaired. She offered a briefing on flood preparedness and mitigations to the committee.

ACTION: Sharon Lea

Councillor Jonathan Caleb-Landy asked how assured officers were of the Council’s planning going into winter with Covid still an active risk in the borough.

David Hughes said he was very assured on the Council’s planning. Officers were doing everything they could. The Covid risk on the register was marked as high due to the uncertainty around the pandemic.

Lisa Redfern (Strategic Director of Social Care) said there were challenges – a lot more people were coming out of hospital with a great acuity of need and the pressure on care homes to admit was higher. The programme to vaccinate care home staff by 11 November was on track. However, the Social Care risk register had been updated to reflect the heightened worry about this winter.

Councillor Caleb-Landy noted the tragic loss of Michael Sloniowski and asked how the Council’s risk function was operating with the role vacant. Lisa Redfern noted that her department held management meetings last week attended by the internal audit team. The Social Care team had kept a close monitor of the risk register and felt it was robust and continually being challenged and revised.

Councillor Alex Karmel asked for information on the funds budgeted or earmarked for Hammersmith Bridge. Emily Hill (Director of Finance) noted that the Bridge was a significant infrastructure and capital asset so any expenditure would come from the capital budget. She noted a recent report for initial stabilisation works. The total costs were £6m but the expectation was that the Council would be able to recoup a third of the cost from the Department for Transport and another third from Transport for London. Detailed engineering reviews were also being undertaken and as they were concluded a business case would be put forward for further works.

Councillor Karmel noted that there were also significant revenue costs associated with the Bridge. He asked what the likely ongoing revenue costs were.

Emily Hill confirmed there were ongoing costs related to safety, but they had reduced from previous levels. Those costs were being met from contingency budgets.

Councillor Karmel noted that there had been a planning application for a ferry across the Thames which may have led to increased costs for the local authority. He asked if it had been withdrawn, given the Bridge had been reopened to pedestrians and cyclists. Emily Hill said the ferry would be the responsibility of Transport for London, not the Council, and would not place a financial burden on the local authority.

Recommendation

The Committee noted the report.