The Risk and Insurance Manager presented the report of the Chief Executive, which advised that under the terms of the Council’s Constitution, one of the functions of the Audit and Risk Management Committee was to provide independent assurance that the Council’s Risk Management Framework was effective. He commented that a key output from the framework was the Corporate Risk Register and to support this Committee’s work in considering the effectiveness of the framework, a report was now presented on a regular basis detailing the key risks facing the authority and how they were being managed.

The report informed that the Corporate Risk Register summarised those areas of uncertainty which had the greatest potential to prevent or frustrate delivery of the Corporate Plan and it confirmed how the authority was seeking to tackle them. At a strategic level the risks helped to inform future priorities and interventions. The actions required to mitigate the risks also influenced the content of Directorate Service Plans and the allocation of resources and, in that way they were a key component of the corporate planning and performance process.

The Risk and Insurance Manager informed that the Cabinet Member – Governance, Commissioning and Improvement had completed a task examining a number of the most critical corporate risks asking questions on the controls, effectiveness and whether further action was required. He informed that a major review of the register would now be undertaken to take account of the new Council Plan (now the Wirral Plan) – a 2020 vision.

A Member questioned the use of the re-modelling fund in relation to risk (PE1) and its operation. The Strategic Director Transformation and Resources responded, stating that aspects of the Council’s workload sometimes required specialised skill support to initiate short term, high paced work managed through the programme management office. He also informed that applications for the use of the Fund had to be evidenced as to the linkages to the delivery of the Council (now Wirral) Plan.

A Member raised a question regarding the topics of Welfare Reform and Demand for Social Care (risks EC2 and SO1) seeking assurance on the resourcing of, and timing of feedback on the subject. The Risk and Insurance Manager informed that both matters had been reviewed early on in the cycle, and had been identified as areas of highest risk to the Local Authority. Reports on these subjects had been, and would continue to be presented to the relevant Council Members (Cabinet and Policy and Performance - Families and Wellbeing Committee).

A Member questioned the growing incidence of extreme weather conditions, primarily flood risk, and asked why the risk scoring was not set at maximum given the recent flooding in parts of the borough. The Strategic Director explained that a formal review was underway, however the circumstances of recent weeks i.e. 80% of one month’s rainfall in two days, and the strong partnership arrangements and action plans already in place had mitigated the effect somewhat, but additional work had been scheduled that included preparation of a business case to secure additional Grant Aid funding.

Resolved: That

1)  the report be noted; and

2)  further reports on the Corporate Risk Register be presented to future meetings of the Committee.