Agenda item

This report asks Members to consider and comment upon a draft risk management User Guide, draft key risk monitor and draft detailed risk register report, including controls and actions used in managing corporate risks.  

Note: Annex A to this item has been made available on-line and copied separately, to Committee Members only.  Copies may be obtained on request from Democratic Services, if required (contact details are at the foot of this agenda).

Members considered a report which asked them to comment upon a draft Risk Management User Guide, key risk monitor and risk register report, including controls and actions used in managing corporate risks.

Although the Council’s framework for risk management had been in development since the 2001/02 Best Value review, progress had been slow until recently due to limited resources.  Additional capacity since October 2007 had enabled further work to be undertaken, including development of a draft User Guide, attached as Annex A to the report.  This was a comprehensive document, which provided detailed guidance for all Officers and Members with responsibility for managing risk. 

Following their work on identifying key corporate risks, Corporate Management Team (CMT) had requested a quarterly monitoring report on progress in managing and mitigating these.  A draft of the format that could be used for this monitor was attached as Annex B.  Information being collected as part of the management and monitoring of these key risks was being transferred into the ‘Magique’ system to create a comprehensive overview and provide a proper management tool for action planning.  Details of the information currently held in Magique were attached as Annex C.  A further document, indicating how more detailed information on the trend of significant risks could be extracted from the system, was circulated at the meeting and is attached as Annex 1 to these minutes.

In response to Members’ questions and comments on Annex B, Officers confirmed that they had been experiencing difficulties in obtaining clear information from action owners within departments.  This would be addressed by Corporate Management Team adopting a monitoring role.  The purpose of the risk register was to create a focus for recording risks, but details of individual risks could be supplied on request.

RESOLVED: That the draft risk management user guide at Annex A, the draft monitoring report at Annex B, the draft Magique report at Annex C and the additional information provided at the meeting be noted.

REASON:      To help deliver a more consistent and well understood approach to risk management across the Council and to provide a clear focus on managing the key threats to the Council and the action being taken to manage them.