Agenda item

FSD23030

Members noted that the scoring for Health & Safety risk related to fire had reduced on the Corporate Risk Register and a Member asked if this should be the case given that fire warden and first aid cover would be spread more thinly when the Council occupied two buildings. He said that he would be interested to hear the Director of HR’s reasoning for this. 

Regarding the presentation of the Risk Registers, it was suggested that the format be changed and that focus in terms of presentation be on those risks that were the most critical and what was going to be done (and when) to mitigate those risks. There was currently no time-frame for actions/mitigations on the Risk Registers. It was suggested that it would be helpful to clarify why certain risks were particularly relevant/significant. It was felt that the reporting format should be changed to make the Risk Registers more readable.

The Vice Chairman felt that the Committee did not have enough time to scrutinise the Risk Registers in detail and that this should be primarily the responsibility of the relevant PDS Committee. However, he had observed that in some of the committees that he had sat on, the Risk Register had only been considered as an ‘information item’ on the agenda and no questions had been asked. He felt that it should be the case that in all scrutiny committees, the Risk Register should be given proper attention and should not be reduced to an information item. The Chairman agreed with this and asked if the Committee Clerk could feed this back via the appropriate channels.

A Member suggested that the reporting format be changed to focus on the ‘red’ risks. Another Member said that there needed to be a review of the governance and quality assurance process for the reporting of risks and that information should be provided regarding dates, times and next steps.

RESOLVED that: 

1) The Risk Management report be noted.

2) A recommendation be made that Risk Registers should no longer be placed on agendas as ‘Information Items’, but should be allocated to agendas as standard full agenda items.

3) Reporting should be undertaken regarding ‘Red Risks’. 

Post Meeting Note:

The Committee Clerk has informed Democratic Services Officers of the recommendations of the Committee concerning Risk Registers and they will feed these recommendations back to the Chairmen of PDS Committees).