Agenda item

To provide an update on the Council’s strategic risks for the period 1^st October 2022 to 31^st December 2022 (report of the Assistant Director – Governance enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – Corporate to provide an update on the Council’s strategic risks for the period 1 October 2022 to 31 December 2022.

The Assistant Director – Finance introduced the report on behalf of the Business Intelligence and Change Manager, who had submitted his apologies.

Members considered the report and made the following comments:

• Members stated that they had received an unprecedented number of reports relating to homelessness issues and agreed that the overall risk rating had been ‘critical’.  Members also noted that the narrative which related to ‘Housing Team Resources and Support’ was unchanged from the previous iteration and had required updating[MC1] .

• Members also noted that the narrative for risk relating to ‘Council Financial Positions’ was unchanged and required updating.

o   The Assistant Director – Finance responded that an update would come forward to the Panel[MC2]  and confirmed that the Council was in the process of finalising the budget for the 2023/24 financial year. The financial environment was extremely challenging and additional factors had increased the complexity of the budget setting process for 2023/24.

·       As a general point regarding the updating of narratives, the Assistant Director – Finance suggested a system to track response updates and increase engagement be implemented and this would be discussed with the Assistant Director – Governance and the Business Intelligence and Change Manager[MC3] .

• Members referred to the Internal Communications risk and stated that:
  • although engagement with Assistant Directors and Service Managers was noted in the narrative, it was believed that a reduced engagement existed across the workforce at less senior levels and that this had echoed the findings of the Joint Scrutiny of the Partnership;
  • a communications action plan needed to include the engagement of less senior members of staff; and
  • engagement with staff from the early stages of Partnership planning activity was suggested, such as for service reviews, so that staff felt informed;
    • The Assistant Director – Finance responded that the Risk Report narrative had updated the Committee on the internal communication channels but this would be updated to include the following communication strategies that were in place to engage the wider workforce[MC4] :
      • regular staff email bulletins;
      • regular videos from the Senior Leadership Team to the workforce;
      • briefings of key corporate topics; and
      • dissemination of information from the Senior Leadership Team to the wider workforce via Service Managers.
• In connection with communications, members noted that where PSPS was to be involved in the delivery of a project, early engagement with relevant PSPS personnel during the strategic planning stage had been recommended by the Joint Scrutiny Panel.

AGREED:

That following consideration of the covering report and Appendix A, which detailed the latest assessment of the Council’s strategic risks, the Q3 Risk Report 2022/23 be noted.