Report of: the Head of Financial Services

Purpose of report:

To update the Committee on both corporate and service risks as at 30 November 2020.

Recommendations:

That the Committee reviews the risk management report and notes its contents.

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Financial Services setting out the update on both corporate and service risks as at 30 November 2020, and discussed how the potential economic impact of Brexit on the council and city should be taken into account. The Council’s risks resulting directly from Brexit were low, but the economic impact would affect other risks.

The Committee noted the report and the risks.

Report of: the Head of Financial Services

Purpose of report:  to update the Committee on both corporate and service risks as at 30 September 2020.

Recommendation: that the Committee reviews the risk management report and notes its contents

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Financial Services on corporate and service risks as at 30 September 2020. Bill Lewis (Financial Accounting Manager) introduced the report and answered questions.

1.     The Committee noted the significant impact of Covid, and the resulting economic effects, on the Council’s budget. This was a combination of extra unexpected expenditure, partially funded by central government, to mitigate hardships and apply new regulations; extra costs of moving to entirely remote working and remote online services; and a significant loss of income from its customer-facing services.

2.     All public authorities and agencies were playing a full part in mitigating and dealing with the effects of Covid across their differing areas of responsibility, and all had seen impacts on their budgets.

3.     The lockdown and infection control measures had impacted on housing delivery, creating a significant delaying new house completions and impacting on new council tax registrations, the housing supply, and affordable housing provision.

4.     One benefit had been the provision of temporary accommodation for the street homeless, albeit without full government support for the costs.

5.     A number of risks had changed in character (for example health and safety risks differed between remote and office-based working; cyber security was more critical) but had not altered severity sufficiently to change category.

6.     The Council’s companies were still going concerns but reductions in their short term profitability impacted on the Council’s budget.

7.     Specific projects proactively managed their own risks within the project delivery. The implementation of Aareon QL software for Housing Services management was now a red risk, but managed within the project board. The Committee expressed concern about the long delay in the project, and the impact on all the services contingent on its implementation.

The Committee noted the risks and mitigations set out in the report.

Report of: the Head of Financial Services

Purpose of report:  to update the Committee on both corporate and service risks as at 31st May 2020.

Recommendation: That the Committee reviews the risk management report and notes its contents.

The Committee considered the report on corporate and services risks as at 31 May 2020. Bill Lewis (Financial Accounting Manager) introduced the report and answered questions.

The Committee noted:

·       The new corporate risk around ensuring housing delivery and supply.

·       The challenges and response to the council offices being closed staff transferred to homeworking as a result of the COVID19 lockdown guidelines, and the refresh of business continuity planning as a result.

·       Due to huge efforts by ICT and staff, business had continued with minimal disruption with ongoing work to provide ICT services, equipment and furniture to support homeworking longer term. 

·       The crisis showed the central role of the ICT team in business continuity planning and resilience, and the disruption caused if any part of the ICT environment was unavailable. That would be incorporated in future plans.

·       With homeworking now the on-going default for most office-based staff, a task group was reviewing the business model and new working patterns.

·       QL (Housing Management Software) would be implemented in September and would have a major benefit for a number of processes.

·       Individual risk assessments covered the environmental impacts and the impact of COVID19. There were no impacts arising directly from the report itself.

·       There were severe economic risks to the city and the council if 20% of businesses were to close. Central government had funded grants, expanded business rate reliefs, and provided some semi-discretionary grant funding to support businesses affected by the COVID19 restrictions.

·       Councillor’s comments that a more detailed report on the business continuity planning process across a range of scenarios would be helpful.

The Committee noted the report and the answers to questions.