Agenda item

The Council’s Corporate Risk Register monitored risks that might prevent the Council from achieving its Corporate Plan or delivering services to its communities and service users in Newport.

In Quarter 4, the Corporate Risk Register had 13 risks, which were considered to have a significant impact on the achievement of the Council’s objectives and warrant monitoring by the Council’s Senior Leadership Team and Corporate Management Team.  At the end of quarter 4, eight high level risks were identified (risk scores 15 to 25); 3 medium risks (risk scores 10 to 14) and 2 low risk (0-9) as outlined in the report.  The Corporate Risk Register also saw the inclusion of the Covid 19 related risk.

The role of Audit Committee was to review and monitor the corporate governance and risk management arrangements in place, with comments and recommendations of the Committee on risk process considered by Cabinet.

As mentioned previously, Brexit information and updates were being closely monitored as well as Covid-19, there would be a report sent to Committee on both matters.

The Performance and Research Business Partner outlined that the risks going forward into 2021 had been reviewed as part of the service planning process and council had reviewed the risk within the service plan and corporate risk register in light of Covid-19 and Brexit.

Discussions included the following:

·         Was the risk register in line with the Aneurin Bevan Local Health Board with regard to the pandemic.  As part of a local resilience forum, Newport City Council was part of the Pan Wales pandemic plan from the outset and the response was therefore based on the joint plan.

·         The Head of Finance advised there could be risks to the Internal Audit Plan for 2021 if the Council’s internal audit was not fulfilling their role due to lockdown.  With this in mind, would it need to be added to the risk register in its own right, as the Council would want to avoid audit staff not covering their usual work, when being placed elsewhere such as Track and Trace during lockdown. The Chair considered there might be a small interruption but this would not have a massive impact.  The Head of Finance therefore advised that the plan would be completed to the best of Internal Audit’s ability but reiterated that there was a lack of auditing due to deployment of staff during lockdown. The Chair was looking at the way risks were being managed and for reassurance in the risk strategy, that Covid was being looked at and if not addressed, it would be flagged up as a problem.  This could therefore be a financial issue going forward. 

·         It was reiterated that Newport City Council was part of the Gwent Local Resilience Forum, there was a plan in place and we were part of it.  Secondly, it was stated that the council took action a month before lockdown and the emergency response was put into place as part of Civil Contingency planning on Saturday 22 February 2020 to address and cancel the schools travel arrangements for pupils going abroad.  Covid Gold arrangements were in place from that point forward.  The Council also made a series of decisions regarding redeployment of resources.  Finance made regular reports to the Corporate Management Team regarding funding and loss of income. 

·         There was the same balance on points regarding the Medium Term budget, the Committee asked why the risks had not been reduced throughout the course of the year.  It was advised that revenue and capital were carefully monitored and it was unlikely that the Medium Term Revenue would alter over the next couple of years.

·         The Committee asked, why have a target rate if this was not reached.  There was a Change programme in place to address this, as it was always a challenge.

·         There was a significant risk of flooding in Newport during the summer, it was questioned as to how this would be addressed; would global warming affect Newport. The Committee were informed that the report was security classified and not addressed in the corporate risk register and although this was a separate report, the Council was aware and prepared for the risks.

Agreed:

Audit Committee considered the contents of this report and assessed the risk management arrangements for the Authority, providing any additional commentary/ recommendations to Cabinet.