Mr Paul Rock, Head of Internal Audit, Anti-Fraud and Risk said the report summarised the risk management activity during the course of 2020/21. He said it provided an update on progress made against the previously agreed actions and proposed an action plan for 2021/22.

Mr Rock said his approach had been different in this report. He had summarised the activity over the year and had provided charts and illustrations of the risk management profile of the Council, which he hoped Members would find useful. Mr Rock said a high proportion of the risks were appearing in Place and Resources Directorates however this was just a matter of timing. Mr Rock said he had worked with the Children and Culture Directorate and the Health, Adults & Community Directorate to focus on their risks and to bring into sharp focus the level of risk in these Directorates. He said time and energy had been spent decluttering older risks, some of low value, to allow more time and energy to be spent in the right areas. He said a similar task would be undertaken with the Place and Resources Directorates.

Mr Rock said that as stated in his Annual Opinion report, the Council’s approach to risk management had matured and as such he was hopeful the Council would continue to make improvements.

In response to questions and comments from Members the following was noted:

• The Chair, Councillor Val Whitehead suggested it may be useful for the Committee members to have an off-line discussion/ meeting to brainstorm what they would consider as being risks to the Council and see how this compared to the risks identified by Officers. Councillor Wood and Councillor Edgar agreed with this suggestion.

• ACTION: Mr Paul Rock to arrange a session with Committee Members for the offline discussion/meeting. 

• In reference to Chart 3, page 162 of the agenda, Charlotte Webster the Independent Person asked about the risks overdue for review, which were at 44%. She asked who were they overdue for? Mr Rock clarified these were risks that were overdue for the Risk Owner where the risk was overdue for more than fourteen days.

The Audit Committee RESOLVED to:

1. Note the annual risk management report and agree the proposed risk management action plan for 2021/22.