Agenda item

The Director of Corporate Services (DoCS) presented the report.

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) continued to strengthen its approach to organisational risk management, aligning policy and practice with ISO 31000:2018, National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) guidance, and HM Treasury's Orange Book: Management of Risk – Principles and Concepts. Risk management remained embedded within the Service's governance framework, supporting ongoing scrutiny, informed decision-making and proportionate allocation of resources to risk treatment.

As reported in June, the Service had also continued to develop its risk management framework through closer alignment with HM Treasury's Orange Book. This included enhancements to the Corporate Risk Register to improve visibility of risk treatment requirements, resource implications and associated financial considerations, enabling the financial and value-for-money consequences of risk treatment to be considered alongside operational risk exposure.

Risk management remained a core component of organisational resilience, enabling Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) to anticipate, understand and respond effectively to uncertainty that might impact operational delivery, strategic objectives, financial sustainability or organisational reputation.

The Service continued to operate a tiered approach to risk identification, assessment and escalation, with departmental risk registers informing discussion at Directorate level before escalation to the Corporate Risk Register where risks exceeded local tolerance thresholds or presented wider organisational implications.

There was no significant change to the Service's highest-rated risks. Retention and recruitment of on-call staff (11f) and replacement of the existing mobilising system (11g) continued to represent the most significant areas of organisational exposure. These risks remain influenced by long-term external factors and sector-wide pressures rather than deterioration in internal controls or mitigation activity.

A change (decreased risk) had been identified since the previous report to the Committee. This was for Industrial Action. It was noted that the likelihood score for the Industrial Action risk had been reduced following acceptance of the 2026 grey book pay settlement, which included a 3.8% pay award which was effective from 1 July 2026. The potential impact on LFRS was now assessed as significantly lower. The impact score remained unchanged.

The Service continued to monitor a range of emerging issues that might influence future risk exposure, including geopolitical instability, economic pressures, workforce challenges, national infrastructure programmes and wider public sector reform. Any material changes would be assessed and incorporated into the Corporate Risk Register through established governance arrangements.

Overall, the risk landscape remained stable, with established governance and mitigation arrangements in place. Several key risks remained subject to external factors, sector-wide pressures and national programme dependencies, and would continue to require active monitoring and oversight.

The Chair invited questions from Members. Councillor B Langford, asked whether the wording for item 12c of the Risk Register was still considered to be accurate given that the government had paused Local Government Reorganisation (LGR). In response, the Chair and representative for internal audit both commented that they felt the current wording remained applicable as LGR was still viewed as a ‘live’ issue.

Resolved: - That the Committee

·         Noted the Service’s current risk management arrangements; and

·         Noted the latest position reflected in the Corporate Risk Matrix and Summary Register at Appendix A.