Mike Lane, Senior Risk and Insurance Officer introduced a report of the Director of Finance and Investment that informed of the focus on enhancements to arrangements for managing risk which the Council is working to introduce. The report informed that ensuring that the leadership had a clear shared and current understanding of those risks was fundamental to that aim.

The Senior Risk and Insurance Officer informed that a facilitated discussion with SLT had taken place on 14 August 2018. The session had sought to draw out the Team’s views on the current most critical risks facing the Council, and a perspective on key risk areas had been prepared by the Director of Finance and Investment in order to initiate discussion. Members were apprised that a follow up meeting of SLT had taken place the week prior to this Audit and Risk Management Committee meeting and outputs were being refined and would be brought back to this committee.

A Member questioned why the summary table within the report appeared as a ‘list of’ as opposed to a ‘summary of risk’ and would be more effective had it included the cause, effect and mitigation for each risk as identified.

The Senior Risk and Insurance Officer confirmed that best practice was to summarise cause, event and effect, and that these key controls for each risk, and the responsibilities for these, will be determined and documented with support from Internal Audit.

Members were apprised that a workshop was to be arranged for Members so that their views on the most significant risks facing the Council were taken into account in developing the revised baseline Corporate Risk Register. Arrangements for the workshop were currently being finalised.

Resolved – That

(1)  the proposed actions be approved; and

(2)  details of future corporate risk register workshops be circulated to Members in due course.