Agenda item

The Committee had before it a report by the Executive Director of Corporate Services which presented the Corporate Risk Register, Cluster Assurance Maps and Inspections Planner to provide assurance on the Council’s overall system of risk management.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee -

(a)      note the level of assurance provided by each ALEO on governance arrangements, risk management and financial management respectively and the risk ratings applied by the ALEO Assurance Hub, as detailed in appendices B-H;

(b)      note that the ALEO Assurance Hub would discuss any outstanding issues specified in the appendices with ALEO representatives, with a view to maintaining low/very low risk ratings and improving any medium risk ratings to low/very low; and

(c)      note the additional support to be offered by the ALEO Assurance Hub to each ALEO outlined at paragraph 3.5 to respond to changes in legislation and other legal developments.

In response to a question relating to the two governance arrangements which were marked as not applicable to BP Joint Venture (BPJV) and whether this would change in future, the Assurance Manager advised that the ALEO Assurance Hub had recognised that BPJV was at a different stage to the other ALEOs and reassurance requirements would be reviewed at a later date to ensure that the governance and compliance required was in place, and this would be reflected in a future workplan to Committee in the first half of 2026, at which point it was anticipated that the ask of BPJV would have changed. 

In response to a question on the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, the requirement of most ALEOs to comply with the legislation and whether this had caused the risk to rise to ‘medium’ for certain organisations, the Assurance Manager advised that the Hub did not have the required assurance at present that preparations were in place and it was therefore proposed that the Fraud Team would provide support and a briefing to ALEOs to assist them to put controls in place.  Until that assurance was in place, the risk would remain as medium.

In response to a question on medium-term financial planning, the fact that certain ALEOs had shorter-term financial plans, and whether this could limit the reassurance provided to the Council, the Chief Officer – Finance advised that while single-year financial arrangements could be somewhat challenging in terms of managing the medium-term financial position, due to contact through the Hub and as group entities, there was constant dialogue about the ALEOs’ finances and future funding arrangements, including discussions early in the financial year about the next financial year.

In response to a question on why only three ALEOs were listed in section 3.5 of the report as requiring a Counter Terrorist Security Advisor assessment, the Assurance Manager advised that this was because those organisations had public buildings.

Finally, in response to a question on how organisations reported on cyber security, the Assurance Manager advised that the Hub had sought assurance on this matter last year and an update would be provided on this in the report to the November meeting of the Committee.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to note that officers would include headings for each appendix on future reports; and

(ii)       to approve the recommendations.