Minutes:
The Leader presented the Corporate
Risk Register Update (Q4) report to Cabinet for their
consideration. This was an update for
the end of Quarter Four (1 January 2022
to 31 March 2022).
The Council’s Risk
Management Policy and Corporate Risk Register effectively
identified, managed and monitored those
risks which could prevent the Council from achieving its objectives
in the Corporate Plan (2017-22) and to undertake statutory duties
as a local authority.
The Quarter four risk
report would also be presented to the Council’s Governance
and Audit Committee in July 2022 to review the Council’s risk
management process and governance arrangements.
At the end of quarter four
the Council had 44 risks recorded across the Council’s eight
service areas.
The risks that were deemed
to pose the most significant risk in the delivery of the
Council’s Corporate Plan and services were escalated to the
Council’s Corporate Risk Register for monitoring.
At the end of quarter three, 16 risks were recorded in the Corporate Risk Register; these being nine Severe Risks (15 to 25) and seven Major Risks (7 to 14).
In comparison to quarter
three, there were no new and/or escalated risks and no risks were
closed.
Twelve risks remained at the same score as quarter three.
Two risks (Safeguarding
risk and In Year Financial Management) were de-escalated from the
Corporate Risk Register to Service area risk registers for
monitoring.
One risk (Pressure on
Housing and Homelessness service) increased from 16 to
20.
Three risks (Covid-19 Pandemic outbreak, Demand for Additional Learning Needs and Special Education Needs support, and Schools Finance / Cost pressures) had their risk scores decreased.
The Leader went on to highlight further decreased risks, these included:
Safeguarding Risk (Children Services) and In Year
Management (Finance).
At the end of the quarter, the Covid-19 Pandemic Outbreak (20 to 16) risk score reduced following Welsh Government’s announcement on easing restrictions.
Cabinet agreed to an additional £.12M to address the discrepancy between the funding to statemented pupils and their actual costs, in relation to Demand for Additional Learning Needs and Special Education Needs support (16 to 12).
Schools Finance / Cost Pressures (12 to 9) decreased as those schools currently subject to the Deficit Recovery process were each demonstrating much improved financial positions. Two of these three schools were expected to end the 2021/22 financial year in surplus, and only one school is considered as likely to need to submit an application for a further licence for the 2022/23 financial year.
WG Covid related guidance in relation to Pressure on Housing and Homelessness Service (16 to 20) continued. There were consistently over 400 households in temporary accommodation, with less than 20 being rehoused each month due to the lack of availability of permanent accommodation. In the absence of the Covid-19 Hardship Fund for 2022-23, additional grant funding was awarded by WG to support the authority to continue to meet the requirement to accommodate a high number of homeless households. This funding, however, would not fully meet the additional costs of continuing to provide high levels of temporary accommodation and the associated staffing and property management expenditure. In addition, the introduction of the Renting Homes Act in July 2022 and the cost-of-living crisis were likely to increase the number of those presenting to the authority as homeless as it was anticipated that private landlords would exit the market and accommodation would become increasingly unaffordable. The pressures on temporary and move-on accommodation was likely to be exacerbated by the demand for housing for Ukrainian evacuees.
Comments of Cabinet Members:
· Councillor Davies referred to recommendation 10 and 15 which had moved down risk register. These were in relation to ALN and SEN support. Cabinet agreed £.12M towards education in relation to these areas of education and further funding would be provided for teaching advisors for pupils at risk of exploitation. An incredible amount of work from education finance officers had been undertaken and the Cabinet Member thanked all those staff involved in education services. The Leader echoed Councillor’s Davies’ comments and those that volunteered within Education Support.
· Councillor Hughes highlighted the improvement the Council was making in relation to safeguarding practices including charities and volunteers within the city maintaining a level of service at a time when cost of living crisis was hitting the community. Social Care staff in particular were working hard to support the vulnerable in community.
Decision:
Cabinet considered the contents of the quarter four update of the Corporate Risk Register.
Supporting documents: