Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Corporate Resources, the purpose of which was to provide an update on the impact of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) in the context of the Council’s risk management arrangements.  The report also included a copy of the Corporate Risk Register which provided an update on each risk including an assessment of the risk through the prism of Covid-19 impacts.  A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 6’, is filed with these minutes.

In introducing the report, the Director highlighted that during the early stages of the Coronavirus pandemic routine risk management processes had been paused to enable Departments to focus on the delivery of business-critical services. However, during that unprecedented period, where there had been significant service disruption and changes to demand, risk identification and evaluation had remained core to the Council’s decision-making processes.

Members noted that the Council was now planning its recovery, which included rebuilding and, in some cases, re-focussing its services.  The identification, evaluation and management of risks as part of that process was in the development phase and the Committee would be kept informed of those that escalated to the Corporate Risk Register in the usual way.

Arising from discussion and questions, the following points arose:

(i)         It was expected that the risk of a pandemic prior to the Covid-19 crisis had been identified and recorded for some time on the regional risk register that was held by the Local Resilience Forum (LRF).  Actions to mitigate area wide risks were coordinated by the LRF in conjunction with the Council’s Resilience Planning Group.  Despite this, it was acknowledged that there were issues around PPE (Protective Personal Equipment) – both in terms of increased demand and supply chain issues.  Members noted, however, that information documents received in recent times regarding global risks did not identify the risk of a global pandemic - focus having been on cyber security and environmental risks.  It was highlighted that many countries had been caught by surprise and experienced similar difficulties around issues such as PPE.  Locally, the LRF had quickly established a PPE cell which linked with the national response, to secure sufficient supplies to meet increased local needs.

(ii)       Regarding Corporate Risk 7.3 “If the Adults and Communities department does not have a sustainable external workforce to work with it may be unable to meet its statutory responsibilities”, a number of mitigations had been put in place in response to the increased pressure on provider staffing (due to shielding/sickness/caring absences) and service delivery (due to changing and evolving demands for services) in areas such as care homes to ensure that staffing levels were sufficient to meet demand. This included an LLR (Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland) led recruitment initiative taking place which had been successful in recruiting to over 100 posts. Providers had also received additional funding to cover the excess costs incurred due to the Coronavirus outbreak.

(iii)      Members welcomed the suggestion that a presentation be given at the Committee’s next meeting on Corporate Risk 3.7 (If the Council does not manage its exposure to cyber risk, then decisions and controls cannot be taken to mitigate the threat of a successful cyber-attack), agreeing this would be timely given the heightened cyber security threat arising from the Coronavirus pandemic with the topic being used as bait on electronic communications.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the current status of the strategic risks facing the County Council, including the impact arising from COVID-19, be approved;

(b)       That the proposal to include an additional risk on the Corporate Risk Register as set out in paragraph 7 of the report ‘If the Council does not plan, prepare and respond adequately to future developments in relation to both the COVID 19 pandemic and recovery to a “new normal” level of services, it could suffer long lasting economic, environmental, societal and technological challenges and miss opportunities’, be supported;

(c)       That at the next meeting of the Committee a presentation be provided on corporate risk 3.7 (If the Council does not manage its exposure to cyber risk, then decisions and controls cannot be taken to mitigate the threat of a successful cyber-attack);

(d)       That the updates provided regarding the emerging risks and service recovery planning, counter fraud and insurance be noted.