The Staff Side would like to ask the following question:
Does the Council have a publically accessible Corporate Risk Management Policy Statement and Strategy? If so does it consider and address the risks to the organisation, in terms of Resilience, as the Council moves towards an increasingly commissioned authority?
Minutes:
The Staff Side asked the following question:
Does the Council have a publically accessible Corporate Risk Management Policy Statement and Strategy? If so does it consider and address the risks to the organisation, in terms of Resilience, as the Council moves towards an increasingly commissioned authority?
It was noted that an email was sent to both sides on June 3rd detailing the following answer that had been provided by Mr David Stevenson:
“A copy of our Risk Management Policy Statement is attached; this is available on the intranet.
Within our overall Risk Management Strategy, LBB identifies various risk categories, including the operational risk category ‘Contractual and Partnership’ which includes ‘Risks associated with the failure of contractors to deliver services or products to the agreed cost and specification. Procurement, contract and relationship management. Overall partnership arrangements.’
Whilst the Policy Statement and Strategy do not specifically mention Resilience (Business Continuity) and commissioning, both have been identified as corporate risks.
Attached is an extract from the Corporate Risks / Organisational issues that were presented to Audit Sub-Committee in April”.
Two documents had been attached to the email for clarification, these were:
· Risk Management Policy Statement
· An extract of a document presented to the Audit Sub Committee in April 2016 which outlined Commissioning and Business Continuity/Emergency Planning risks.
These documents were also tabled at the meeting.
Mr Stevenson attended the meeting to brief the committee and answer questions.
Gill Slater highlighted that the Risk Management Policy was not publically available, and that this was a source of concern to the public. She asked why “Risk” was not factored into Gateway reports, and new contracts. She expressed the view that as all change involved risk, then potential risks to the Council should be documented in the reports.
Cllr Colin Smith acknowledged that risk should be identified in contracts, but queried why risk should just be confined to new contracts, as there would also be similar risks applicable to existing services. It was often the case that risk management was better handled in the commercial sector, and it was not necessarily the case that risks would increase though outsourcing.
The Director of Human Resources stated that every organisation would hold a risk register. The risk to the Council lay in holding the contractor to the terms of the contract. Every report set out key issues, financial considerations, legal issues, staffing implications, and impact assessments.
The Director of Commissioning explained to the Committee that the commissioning process looked at what was required, and in what ways this could be achieved. This may involve outsourcing, but it also meant that sometimes services would remain in house. A detailed business case would be prepared by officers that would assess all possible options. The report would then go to Members who would then make the final decision on whether or not the service would be out sourced or not. It had also to be borne in mind that limited budgets were available.
Councillor Wilkins stated that she was interested in Corporate risk, and would like to have some training and overview to increase her understanding of the subject and the issues involved. She expressed the view that the Risk Register should be in the public domain, as was the case with many other local authorities. She asked which Directorate this lay under, and Mr Stevenson answered that it was part of the Chief Executive’s division.
The Chairman suggested that the matter of publishing the Risk Register on the Council website could be a matter for a future meeting. Mr Stevenson commented that some of the relevant information was available on part 1 documents. Councillor Colin Smith stated that subject to legal advice, and in view of the fact that other local authorities were publishing this information, then there was a strong case for LBB to do the same.
Gill Slater asked how the commissioning process would impact the Risk Register. The Assistant Director responded that the current levels of risk were based on existing service levels, and so outsourcing would not increase the level of risk.
The Chairman suggested that Gill Slater may like to draft a paper to the LJCC, outlining her concerns around the issue of ‘Risk’.