Chichester District Council
Agenda item

Agenda item

Strategic Risk Management Update

That the Committee notes the current strategic risk register and the internal controls in place, plus any associated action plans to manage those risks, and raises any issues or concerns; and

That the Committee notes both the high scoring programme board and organisational risks, and the mitigation actions in place, and raises any issues or concerns.

 

Minutes:

The Committee considered the report attached to the agenda.

 

Mrs Belenger introduced the report, advising that the Strategic Risk Group had considered the Council’s strategic risk register.  She drew attention to the heat map at paragraph 5.3 and the key changes to the risk register.  During this quarter one new risk had been identified in respect of the risk on the high street as a result of changing shopping habits and the economy.  Details of which were tabled at the meeting following the risk being assessed by the risk owner and would be added to the heat map.  With regard to the Programme Board risks the Infrastructure Programme Board was now largely covered by other groups e.g. DPIP and Chichester Growth Board. There were no high scoring risks for the remaining two Programme Boards.  

 

The Committee made the following comments and received answers to questions as follows:

 

·           Members’ requested the report should be printed in colour: This was an oversight and should have been printed in colour.

·           CRR165 Brexit - Has the possibility of Article 50 been taken into account and who will pay the Council’s costs to mitigate this risk?: The mitigation costs were not known as they were hidden in officer time ensuring there were measures in place.  In case of a no Brexit deal, all services have made an assessment of the potential impact; including finance where officers had taken steps to ensure that any funds domiciled in other EU countries could be transferred to a United Kingdom based money market.  All council services were tasked to identify how they would be impacted and to consider if there were any costs implications to mitigate any impact.  Confirmation was given that the costs incurred so far were likely to be small.  Some funding has been made available to the Council due to Brexit, this was £35,000 over a two year period.  A further assessment was being undertaken by the Government to see if further funding was required by all local authorities. 

·           CRR09 Business Continuity - When will the off-site replication of the Council’s IT systems be in place, as it would be a vast mitigation for this risk?: Following approval of the funding for this project it was expected that it would be in place within the next twelve months.

·           CRR170 Changing use of the High Street in City and Rural Towns – Was this risk score high enough as concern was raised at the number of empty shops observed in the Chichester City centre and deterioration of the environment, such as the pavements: This new emerging risk had gone through the review regime and the risk score given of 6 was considered an appropriate score but would be reviewed again by the Strategic Leadership Team at the next quarter.  The effect to the Council had also been assessed as part of the risk.  

·           CRR147 Southern Gateway – Local Enterprise Partnership funding latest position?: The Council was waiting for confirmation that it could have the flexibility arrangements.  A decision was required by tomorrow’s deadline, otherwise the funding would be lost.

·           CRR149 Impact of Universal Credit (UC) on working claimants across the District – Queried ‘Some people may expect delays’: Officers were aware there may be some delays and that some groups of claimants were especially affected.

·           CRR148 Local Plan – Concern was raised that the Local Plan would be at risk if residents did not understand the consequences of it not being found sound.  Planning Policy was very aware of the risks involved should the Local Plan not be found sound in terms of not meeting its housing targets and the impact on infrastructure.

 

RESOLVED

 

1)    that the current strategic risk register and the internal controls in place, plus any associated action plans to manage those risks be noted; and

2)    that the current high scoring programme board and organisational risks, and the mitigation actions in place be noted.

 

Supporting documents:

 

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