The Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change presented a report, the purpose of which was to provide the Governance and Audit Committee with an updated Corporate Risk Assessment 2023-24 and an updated Corporate Risk Management Policy.

The Corporate Risk Assessment, attached at Appendix A to the report, had been reviewed in consultation with the Corporate Management Board. It identifies the main risks facing the Council, their link to the corporate well-being objectives under the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, the likely impact of these risks on Council services and the wider County Borough, and identifies what actions are being taken to mitigate the risks and who is responsible for the Council’s response. The risk assessment is aligned with the Medium Term Financial Strategy.

The Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change stated that there were currently 11 risks on the Corporate Risk Register. Every Risk had been reviewed by CMB.

The Risk Management Policy had also been amended to reflect the introduction of new Risk tracking and reporting software during 2023.

The Corporate Risk Management Policy timeline, included in Appendix B to the report, had been amended for 2023-24.

The Corporate Director, Social Services and Wellbeing stated that the issues in terms of pressures in the health and social care system were not new but the reason for escalating this to the corporate risk register at this time, was due to the level of risk within this volatile service area.

She stated that there were action plans in place focussing on the two areas depicted in red within the report which were of high risk.

There was a Social Work Review being conducted by the Head of Adult Social Care which would look at the configuration of teams and resources across adult services, with the view of improving the service area going forward.

The Corporate Director then went on to mention the challenges faced in the recruitment market within Social Care, where there was a difficulty with recruitment and retention. This was not just common to BCBC but was an issue across the whole of Wales.

She explained that the Council were therefore taking steps to combat this, by ‘growing its own’ and linking in with Bridgend College and Universities, in order to better promote Bridgend from a marketing perspective. This will hopefully attract younger people to forge a career in Children and Adult Social Care, particularly as Bridgend, in this area of work, was becoming an ageing workforce.

A real focus for the Service was rebuilding capacity and the reablement services. A reduction had been seen post COVID or during COVID, to a point where the service was delivering around 1,000 hours less a year of reablement than was being delivered prior to the pandemic. If individuals did not go through those reablement pathways, they were likely to require more care and support on an ongoing basis.

In relation to strategic work around workforce, there was a large focus in terms of marketing and work linking  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53