Mr David Dobbs, Head of Internal Audit, Anti-Fraud and Risk, introduced the Risk Management report and said the Corporate Risk Register (Appendix A) as well as the Chief Executive’s Directorate Risk Register (Appendix B) were attached to the report. He said the Risk Team supported management across the Council to manage their risks however it was important to recognise that the organisation, needed to own its risks.

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

• Referring to the new risk added to the Corporate Risk Register FPA0014, about reclaiming VAT, Members asked what the outcome of the meeting held on the 30^th November 2023 had been and why the current risk score was 12. Mr John Harrison, Interim Director for Finance said they had met with HMRC and had improved their accounting processes. He said they were monitoring the progress made and said the risk score should reduce to 2.
• Referring to risk CSD0016, members asked what was being done to reduce the risk score from 25 to 16. Councillor Bustin said this risk had been discussed at the Audit Committee previously. Why was the score so high? In response, Mr John Harrison, Interim Director for Finance said one could not eliminate the risk totally as the risk of harm or death of a child could occur in any vulnerable situation even if the local authority is aware of the case.
• Ms Webster suggested that the risk be benchmarked against other similar local authorities to see if the scoring and actions were similar.

• ACTION: Mr Dobbs, agreed to benchmark this risk against other councils to see if the scoring was similar and what else could be done to reduce the risk.

The Audit Committee RESOLVED to:

1. Note the corporate risks, and where applicable request risk owner(s) with risks requiring further scrutiny to provide a detailed update on the treatment and mitigation of those risks including impact on the corporate objectives at the next Audit Committee meeting (or separately before the meeting, if urgent).
2. Note the Chief Executive’s Directorate risks and where applicable request risk owner(s) with risks requiring further scrutiny to provide a detailed update on the treatment and mitigation of their risks including impact on the directorate’s objectives at the next Audit Committee meeting (or separately before the meeting if urgent).