Meeting documents

To consider the attached report.

Contact Officer:  Kate Mulhearn (01296) 585724

The Audit Committee had a role to monitor the effectiveness of risk management and internal control across the Council.  As part of discharging this role the Committee was asked to review the Corporate Risk Register (CRR).  The CRR provided evidence of a risk aware and risk managed organisation and reflected the risks that were on the current radar for Strategic Board.  Some of the risks were not dissimilar to those faced across other local authorities. 

The CRR had been fully updated in January 2019 to reflect the impact of the Secretary of State’s decision to implement a single unitary authority for Buckinghamshire.  The CRR had last been reviewed by the Audit Committee on 25 March 2019 and by Cabinet on 16 June. The following table showing the changing risk profile over time was submitted:-

The background and comments against each risk was included in the report, as well as a summary in relation to residual risk ratings.  Members were informed on the following:-

Staff capacity

That the highest risk currently facing AVDC was the lack of staff capacity to maintain services and deliver priority projects (CRR Risks 2, 3 and 4).  There was increasingly a recognition that there was no longer "business as usual" but that the Council needed to operate under a new model as it transitioned away from AVDC and towards the new Buckinghamshire Council.  This risk was now the subject of regular reports to Cabinet.

Support to Unitary Implementation

Information was provided that a number of AVDC staff members were already working full time for the Unitary Implementation team, that others were being considered for transfer or were considering moving, whilst the Council was also experiencing significant demands on "experts" to resource unitary work streams.  In some cases, AVDC senior managers were providing 50% or more of their time to support unitary work.  This was from across all areas of the Council.  The scope and scale of resource involvement was likely to increase over time

Staff retention and recruitment

A number of key staff had left AVDC to join outside organisations, as well as there being a number of recent management resignations.  There were already a number of hard to fill posts and this, coupled with the instability associated with the unitary transition was likely to make recruitment increasingly challenging.

Following the confirmed plans of the Chief Executive and a Director to leave AVDC shortly, there was an increasing risk that the existing leadership structures would no longer be sufficient to operate as they had previously done.

Managing the Risks

The Committee report provided details of the work that was being done to ensure that critical services were maintained, priorities delivered and that AVDC transitioned to the new Council in an orderly fashion.  The risk of losing key staff on the Council’s ability to achieve this was greater in some areas than others but was likely to increase across AVDC as April 2020 approached.  The 5 Councils across Buckinghamshire were all being impacted by these issues.

Risks associated with "No-deal Brexit"

In line with advice from MHCLG, the Council had been monitoring the potential risks associated with Brexit, with CRR number 15 reflecting the overall level of risk to AVDC.  In recent months there had been a focus on risks associated with a "No Deal Brexit".  The risks and information were regularly updated as more information was released from Central Government.

In March 2019, the Audit Committee had received a report summarising the identified key risks that AVDC might face should the UK exit the EU without a deal.  This had sought to provide Members with a level of assurance that, as far as possible, appropriate planning and contingencies were in place should the UK exit the EU without a deal.

The Director with responsibility for finance responded to questions from Members in relation to the transition to SAP (the County Council’s Finance system), business continuity plans, and IT resilience testing, after which it was,

RESOLVED –

That the current position of the Corporate Risk Register be noted.