The Interim Head of Finance presented a report which provided the Committee with the outcome of the Corporate Risk Assessment 2020-21 in Appendix A, informed the Committee of the changes to the Councils Risk Management Policy in Appendix B and provided an update on reported Incident and Near Miss occurrences in Appendix C.

She advised that Appendix A in the report contained incorrect dates, and provided the Committee with a printed copy of the up to date Corporate Risk Assessment 2020-21.

A Member asked about the risk that related to retention and recruitment of staff and what the main issues were. The Interim Head of Finance stated that it was often to do with the pay and quality of the market. She said private sector compared with Local Government was often more pay and more variety of jobs. She added that there were a number of complications when a job is evaluated/changed and said that one small change can affect many other aspects.

A Member asked what the situation was regarding employment of social workers as there was once a difficulty with this. The Interim Head of Finance stated that it was better than it used to be but it was still a difficulty with the shortage, which was the case with a number of areas including surveyors and engineers. She added that as many of the positions were not well paid, this made it difficult to appeal to people.

A Member expressed concerns with the responsibility being shown as ‘CMB’ and suggested that it disallowed for proper ownership.

The Interim Head of Finance stated that the majority of the risks did not fall with just one Corporate Director and therefore sharing the responsibility across all of CMB meant that they all had a joint responsibility to ensure the risks were being dealt with. A Member agreed that displaying one name would create a blame culture which was unnecessary.

The Chairperson proposed that the Committee read through each of the risks listed in Appendix A to ensure everyone was happy with the actions.

A Member expressed concerns relating to Risk 4 and asked if existing schools were being improved, i.e. was the money available for existing schools as well as new schools. The Chairperson agreed that existing schools needed to be looked at and finding ways to improve the space used as well as ensuring children nearby to the school can actually go there.

A Member reaffirmed this and stated that BCBC were footing a large bill for having to transport children a number of miles by taxi due to the lack of places for many children who live in catchment area of a school but were not able to get a place.

A Member asked if the relationship with the Health Boards were as good as they could be as she said that she recently requested information relating to the EU Settlement Scheme and was turned away. The Chairperson stated that this was something that was also discussed in a Scrutiny meeting.

A Member asked if the Council discusses best practice with other Local Authorities. The Interim Head of Finance stated that the Council discusses methods of best practice and how we can share services with each other, which had been done for many years with neighbouring authorities.

The Lay Member asked how the suppliers were linked in with the major incident plan in respect of financial resilience. The Interim Head of Finance stated that it was difficult to plan for if a company were to have a cyber-attack or go into financial administration and this was something that we would need to monitor.

A Member mentioned that it was a requirement for schools to have a first aid policy, however, when looking for guidance relating to first aid policy on the Welsh Government website it stated to follow the local authority guidance. She stated that BCBC did not have their own policy and were using guidance taken from authorities in England. She added that sufficient training had not been provided to teachers on how to use defibrillators on the children in Primary Schools.

The Chairperson stated that this needed to be looked into and added to the action record to ensure BCBC develop a first aid policy that covers schools in Bridgend as well as suitable training provided.

A Member queried whether the likelihood of some of the risks in the incident and near miss report were accurate, and should the risk level be higher as a result. The Chairperson stated that there would be a danger of doing this as some risks would go too high up a level where issues would be over reported.

A Member stated that the health board had a good reporting system so it might be worth looking at their system. The Chairperson agreed that this may be beneficial and was worth Officers seeking the best way to take that forward.

RESOLVED: That Members of the Committee:

1. Considered the Corporate Risk Assessment 2020-2021 (Appendix A) and the updated Corporate Risk Management Policy (Appendix B)

Noted the Incident and Near Miss Reporting occurrences reported in the last 12 months (Appendix C)