Issue - meetings

This report provides an update on the Council’s Strategic Risks as of March 2025. The update has been prepared in consultation with risk leads and Departmental Management Teams and summarises the risks that are considered to be of an impact and/or likelihood of materialising, and which may have an adverse effect on the achievement of the Council’s corporate objectives.

This report provides an update on the Council’s Strategic Risks as of February 2024. The update has been prepared in consultation with risk leads and Departmental Management Teams and summarises the risks that are considered to be of an impact and/or likelihood of materialising, and which may have an adverse effect on the achievement of the Council’s corporate objectives.

Darren Armstrong, Head of Audit & Investigation, introduced the report providing the Committee with an update on the Council’s Strategic Risks as of February 2024.

In considering the report the Committee noted:

·             The Strategic Risk Register had been prepared in consultation with risk leads, Departmental Management Teams and the Council Management Team in accordance with the key elements of the Council’s Risk Management Policy and Strategy.

·             Since the report was last updated in February 2023, the Council had continued to operate in a heightened risk environment due to several external factors that included the current economic climate and the cost -of-living crisis with the Council’s overall risk profile therefore continuing to reflect the challenging risk environment the Council was operating within.

·             In terms of the main changes since September 2023, 11 of the risks reported were assessed as being on a stable risk trend in terms of scores remaining as previously reported and one risk (Strategic Risk K: non-compliance with statutory housing duties) having shown a small downwards movement in its risk score.

·             The Committee’s attention was drawn to the Strategic Risk Heat Map within the Strategic Risk Report which had shown six of the strategic risks located within the upper quartile with the highest scoring being the risks related to cost-of-living crisis (A); increase in Dedicated Schools Grant High Needs Block deficit (B); lack of supply of Affordable Accommodation(C) and increase in use of emergency temporary accommodation (D).

·             Since the update in September 2023 two new risks had been added to the Strategic Risk Report.  Both related to the climate emergency, with the first focussed around adapting to climate risks and how Brent’s infrastructure, public health and the natural environment may be adversely affected by the physical effects of climate change.  The second related to reaching carbon neutrality, reflecting the risk that the Council may not be able to achieve its ambition of becoming a carbon neutral borough by 2030 due to a lack of funding and the extent to which behavioural change was still required to meet the scale of challenge identified.  Members were advised that both risks had previously formed part of a wider suite of inherent risks held on departmental risk registers, however, following review had now been added as Strategic Risks in their own right.  In this respect they had not been identified as new risks or escalated due to increased risk scores; they had been added to reflect a change in the Council’s risk management approach as part of ongoing efforts to continue to improve and enhance the Council’s risk management framework.

·             The wider improvements made to the Council’s risk management framework, as detailed within section 4.7 of the report along with the additional recommendations which had recently been made by the LGA in relation to risk management following a recent review of governance and financial challenges experienced by a number of other local authorities.  Whilst noting the robust arrangements already established within Brent to satisfy the majority of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11