Agenda item

This report deals with the 6 monthly review of the Council’s Corporate Business Risk Register.

Discussion:

Members considered a report on the 6 monthly review of the Council’s

Corporate Business Risk Register, together with a supplementary paper from the Interim Deputy Director Children and Adults setting out more detail in relation to the recommendation that Corporate Risk SR26 (Children’s Social Care) be down graded from AII to BII.

A Member asked what the reasons were behind the recommendation to escalate Corporate Risk SR23 (Data and Information). The Chief Legal Officer replied that the legislation and guidance on data and information governance was now stricter and therefore it was more difficult to meet the targets.

A Member commented that he was still concerned that a new risk on the shape of Local Government in Kent, as proposed by the Committee last year, had not been included on the Register.

A discussion then took place about the recommendation that Corporate Risk SR26 (Children’s Social Care) be down graded from AII to BII. Whilst recognising progress had been made, it was argued that the risk should stay as it was for the time being due to the fact that not all of the senior management posts beneath the Director of Children and Adults were filled on a permanent basis. It was recognised that the Assistant Director Social Care was filled by a permanent member of staff but this left the Deputy Director role filled on an interim basis. This was not a criticism of the staff in interim or temporary positions but rather that a lack of stability at a senior level could affect the rating the Council received if there was to be another Ofsted inspection. Should there be more stability in six months’ time then it may be appropriate to downgrade the risk at that point. Other Members supported the suggestion that the risk should not be down graded at this point although one Member made the point that the process and direction of travel were more critical than its rating.

A Member reiterated a point made when the Committee last considered the Risk Register that a better approach to risk would be to combine risks and mitigations in one place. This would allow Members to see what was being done to mitigate a risk, what the timescales were, what progress was being made and what the residual risks were. The Chief Legal Officer advised that the Strategic Risk Management Group had previously considered a new approach to risk management but had concluded that, in the light of the amount of change facing the council, the need to train key people on a new risk framework would be an unnecessary distraction. However, the Group would look at its next meeting whether it was the right time to move to a broader approach to risk, including whether the Risk Register should include opportunities as well as risks.

Reference was made to Risk SR25 (Adult Social Care Transformation) and a concern was raised that NHS targets on bed blocking could, given the problems the Council was facing in recruiting staff,  lead to a failure on the Council’s part to meet its targets in relation to this risk. Officers undertook to report back on this.

Decision:

The Committee agreed to:

a)        note an officer recommendation to amend the Council’s Risk Register in relation to Risk SR32 (Data and Information);

b)        recommend to Cabinet that Corporate Risk SR26 (Children’s Social Care) not be down graded from AII to BII at this point;

c)         note the revised Risk Register to be submitted to Cabinet on 9 May 2017 for final approval, and;

d)        note that the Strategic Risk Management Group will be looking at the possibility of reviewing the Council’s approach to risk management.