Agenda item

The Director of Corporate Services presented the report that highlighted action taken in respect of corporate risk since the last Audit Committee meeting.  The latest review of the corporate risk register had identified 1 new risk which warranted consideration for inclusion on the corporate risk register in relation to Brexit.  There was a great deal of uncertainty surrounding this issue however, the report set out the key issues for consideration: -

·        Community tensions – this was picked up by the Lancashire Resilience Forum (LRF);

·        UK economy and impact on longer term funding – this was already covered on the risk register under risk 1;

·        Business rate income, and hence impact on longer term funding - this was already covered by on the risk register under risk 1;

·        EU funding – we do not budget for any long term EU funding, with the only funding received being one-off funding of approximately £50k for Prince’s Trust in 2018/19;

·        Procurement issues, including availability and cost of goods – we would clearly need to comply with any changes to legislation arising from exiting the EU, however all indications were that our procurement rules would remain broadly the same. Whilst there was a possibility that the cost of goods would increase it was too early to say the extent and impact of any such increase, as such if this occurred we may need to draw down reserves in order to balance the budget. In terms of availability of goods/services we did not anticipate a significant impact in the short term however this situation would continue to be closely monitored.

Based on the above analysis it was clear that Brexit presented significant risk however, with the exception of the procurement risk it was felt that these were already covered within the exiting risk register and the LRF risk register. As such it was agreed to add the risk relating to the cost and availability of goods and services to the corporate risk register as a medium risk, with the situation going forward being monitored.

The updated corporate risk register was considered by Members and the Director of Corporate Services highlighted the following:

Risk no. 1 – insufficient resources due to poor funding settlement

This risk had been reviewed and increased to 16, a high risk due to the level of uncertainty with 2019/20 the final year of the 4-year settlement, the Government’s 2019 spending review for the fire sector and the fair funding review. In response to a question raised by Councillor Smith the Director of Corporate Services advised that there was the prospect of moving to a 75% business rates retention which in theory would be cost neutral as the government provided section 31 grant to offset any lost income; bearing in mind that this was funded from top slicing the overall budget allocation in the first instance.

Risk no. 3 – insufficient staffing resources due to industrial action 

The report provided an update on pay negotiations and it was proposed that the risk remained at 12, a medium risk. 

Risk no. 6 – Operational staff do not have the required skills to operate safely at an incident with the potential to result in firefighter injuries or fatalities 

This risk continued to be monitored and remained at 9, a medium risk.

Risk no. 19 – Failure to maximise the opportunities that technological advances present due to lack of capacity within ICT 

The Service was still carrying vacancies which were proving difficult to fill but had recently achieved a security accreditation in cyber essentials and was preparing for Windows and Office updates.

RESOLVED:- That the Audit Committee noted the actions taken and endorsed the revised corporate risk register.