Agenda item

Chris Blundell, introduced the report where he gave the following points:

·  He explained that this item appeared on every Governance and Audit Committee meeting;

·  Mr Blundell also explained the scoring system of financial risk under Corporate Risk Management as well as how it applied to different service areas of the Council;

·  On the topic of Cyber Attack, he explained that it scored high because of the detrimental effect an incident cause to the Council’s operations;

·  With regards to Limited Resources, he explained that this was also a high scoring item due to the possibility of it resulting in bankruptcy at which point, the government would step in if that were to happen;

·  Regarding the topic of Economic Environment, this was another high scoring risk due to its relation to other risks as well and the current rise of inflation. It was also a risk that the Council had less control over;

·  EPC Requirements were made tougher, as requirements were now required to reach a grade C rather than a grade E by the end of the decade;

·  The Council dedicated itself to be carbon neutral by the end of the decade, via the Net Zero Strategy; however the Council was aware that this was expensive and will not be easy to implement;

·  Political Stewardship has reduced as it was originally higher due to the frequent change in leadership

·  Governance has also reduced, thanks in part to recommendations of the independent monitoring officer and Grant Thornton, however there is still more work that can be done to reach desired outcomes

·  The Covid-19 risk score has also reduced

·  Manton Road Depot’s score has reduced following secondary EA visits where they were pleased with the progress being made.

With regards to Berth 4/5, Mike Humber, Director of Environment said the following:

·  The project had some delays and the financial risk was the reason why it was appearing on the risk management report;

·  Majority of the work for the project had already been completed over the previous Summer. Electrical work was still outstanding, but was due for completion in the first week of August;

·  There was a live claim with the contractor currently, because they were awarded the contract before the marine licence was granted which constrained the construction period. Officers assured Members that this would be resolved by the end of August.

Speaking under Council Procedure Rule 20.1 Councillor Yates expressed some concerns, specifically that the Economic Environment has scored high in the risk management report. He told Members that Cabinet were looking into options to save money as well as looking at new revenue streams in the future.

Discussion raised the following points:

·  Members asked about the Cyber Attack score and what options were available for reducing the risk. Officers replied that it was possible to bring Dan Evans, the Head of ICT to a future meeting to give the committee an update and more detailed report regarding Cyber Attacks. The Council used a shared service partnership with three other councils. However, since then, the service has been disbanded and services were brought back in-house. It was also mentioned that Dan Evans would be producing a report to go to the East Kent Chief Executive to set out how they resourced ICT and how that service functioned across the partnership;

·  Members then asked about the type of insurance that had been looked into regarding Cyber Attacks, whether that be business interruption insurance or specialists who were able to advise with data forensics. Officers replied that Bespoke Cyber Security was the provider they were looking into, but the conditions attached made it easy for them to deny coverage and that the expense would not be worth it. However, Members were assured that discussions were made to prepare for any kind of attacks by educating both Members and Officers;

·  On the subject of the Climate Change related risks, Members asked what lessons TDC learned in order to reduce risk of water shortages (specifically coming from the Covid-19 experience). Officers replied that there had been emergency planning responses planned for different scenarios, however this was a situation affecting all Authorities on a national level. TDC were looking into ways to distribute water more efficiently and already put continuity plans in place;

·  In relation to Ransomware, it was highlighted in the report that £350,000 from the DLUHC had gone towards leading a backup replacement project; Members asked for a breakdown of the expenses. Officers agreed to come back to Members following the meeting regarding this matter;

·  On the subject of Limited Resources, Members were aware that there was a new Head of Property and a full review currently underway regarding the Council’s property portfolio. It was requested that the Property Team be fully supported to make sure TDC got full value for these properties. Officers assured members that a lot of resources had gone into the Property Team, resulting in income in the long run, this included putting money into repairs and maintenance to maintain the stock. Recruitment was still ongoing for the Property Team to have full time staff going forward;

·  Members requested the Head of Property appear at a future Committee meeting, to lay out a plan going forward regarding generating income with the Council’s leasehold housing stock. Officers agreed to invite the Head of Property and reminded Members that presentation and discussion would focus on the processes, rather than looking at individual properties the Council had in its portfolio as that would come under Scrutiny instead;

·  Members also requested further detail on the Economic Environmental section of Risk Management for the next Governance and Audit Committee, specifically in the areas of supplier risk and the mitigation from the Procurement team;

·  Members asked about the topic of burial space and wanted to know how far TDC was from running out of space for burials. Officers replied that it was hard to guess due to demand, however there were plans being looked into to expand sites whilst more long term strategies were being looked into

Councillor Britcher proposed, Councillor Donaldson seconded and Members AGREED that to approve the review of corporate risks.