The Head of Finance submitted a report the purpose of which, was to inform Members of amendments to the 2016-17 Corporate Risk Assessment (CRA) which have arisen out of the review undertaken in July 2016.

The Insurance and Risk Officer advised that the CRA was considered by both the Audit Committee on 28 January and Council on 10 March 2016

It was aligned with the Corporate Plan and MTFS, and at the request of the Audit Committee a version of the Risk Assessment attached at Appendix 2 of the report was produced, which footnotes the links to the Corporate Plan. 

The Risk Assessment (Appendix 1 to the report) was subject to review, and part of the document included the outcome of such review that was reported to Senior Management Team in July 2016.  It is being reviewed again in October the Insurance and Risk Officer advised, and work on the 2017-18 Risk Assessment will commence at the end of the year and be reported to the Audit Committee in January 2017.

He proceeded by confirming that last January the Audit Committee requested that BCBC links in with other South Wales local authorities to see what risks they had on their assessment.  This task had been undertaken, and the Welsh Language Standards risk was also added, together with comments in respect of digital transformation and the Local Development Plan (LDP) also being included.

The Insurance and Risk Officer then outlined the principal changes made in respect of the CRA that were implemented in July 2016, as follows:-

• Making the cultural change necessary to deliver the MTFS;
• Supporting Vulnerable Adults;
• Supporting Vulnerable Children, Young People and their Families;
• Welfare Reform;
• Local Government Reorganisation;
• The Economic Climate and Austerity;
• Disposing of Waste;
• Equal Pay;
• Healthy Lifestyles;
• Maintaining Infrastructure;
• Educational provision;
• The Impact of Homelessness;
• Ineffective Collaboration with Partners;
• Educational Attainment;
• Health and Safety;
• School Modernisation; and
• Welsh Language Standards

A Member referred to page 195 of the report and the Risk Description, Community Care Information System (WCCIS), and the potential challenges as the system is rolled out to other authorities. She noted that BCBC were the lead Authority and asked how the rollout was progressing, and how many other authorities this had currently been rolled out to.

The Head of Finance and Section 151 Officer confirmed that the information in the report was effectively a month out of date, but as far as he was aware as well as BCBC, Ceredigion Council had gone live and Powys were about to also. He added that a considerable number of authorities had given a commitment to the system with the provider ie about half of those in Wales, though the sign-up process rate was fairly slow, including Health Boards such as the ABMU. Until the ABMU did sign-up stated the Head of Finance and Section 151 Officer, BCBC would not realise the benefits of the scheme to their optimum. He further added that there would be a more effective method of information sharing between those authorities that signed up to the scheme.

A Member referred to page 234 of the CRA and the Risk Description headed Health and Safety and felt that the Inherent Risk Score totalling 24 seemed fairly high. He had some concerns with this, as organisations were subjected to heavy fines if they breached health and safety regulations.

The Insurance and Risk Officer confirmed that this risk score was the highest in the Authority, and this was due to the fact that breaches of health and safety worse case scenario, could result in employee injuries including death. In the unlikely event of this occurring, the organisation if found liable, would face significant financial penalties. Realistically however, this was just a potential risk that normally did not occur with any significant consequences. The score had to be elevated though in case a ‘bad’ health and safety breach did unfortunately take place. As the Committee had previously requested, the Insurance and Risk Officer confirmed that he had some comparative information from 6 neighbouring local authorities in respect of this Inherent Risk, and would provide this to Members outside of the meeting.

A Member thanked the Insurance and Risk Officer for his report. She asked however, if future reports could contain further information, for example such as any Inherent Risks that were increasing that were included in the main Risk Assessment document, as well as possibly a narrative as to how actions that the Council take in respect of risks reduce the level of any such risks arising.

The Insurance and Risk Officer advised that he would consider putting further explanatory information in future such reports. He added however, that the risk scores for the main various risks of the Council reflected as accurately as possible the level of those particular risks.

RESOLVED:                  That Members considered the changes made to the Corporate Risk Assessment, and that a further report be presented to the Committee in January 2017, concerning the 2016-17 Corporate Risk Assessment and review of the Risk Management Policy.