Agenda item

To consider work being undertaken to identify any system weakness across the council.

The Chief Executive provided an overview of the work being undertaken to identify any system weaknesses within the Council.

He explained that he had initiated an organisation-wide review of all business functions to assess system weaknesses and the existing resilience in place. He had begun by requesting that all Heads of Departments have discussions with their teams and report back in order to obtain as much information as possible. These risks would then be tested for their likelihood and impact, and the existing documentation and back-up arrangements would be reviewed. Once the assessment had been completed internally, it would be appraised by officers at Epping Council who would be acting as a “critical friend”.

Members provided their feedback on the ongoing review, highlighting in particular the need not to spend too much time managing and monitoring risk when there was other work to be carried out. It was acknowledged that not all risks could be captured and assessed within the review, for a range of reasons such as unpredictability, the time allocated for the review and the capacity of officers to go into very fine levels of detail. Therefore, priority needed to be given to those weaknesses on the higher scale of risk as well as those that needed greater management; for example where there were lower qualified managers, a lack of ability to delegate at the current time or a lack of existing documentation. 

Members also asked questions regarding the openness within the culture of organisation, as this would be crucial within the review and future resilience. The Chief Executive clarified that he led by example and frequently advocated the value of openness. He gave the example of the recent Council Housing rent miscalculation and how it was important to commend the individual for reporting the mistake. Furthermore, he was introducing more changes to create an open culture within the organisation. This included refreshing the appraisal system and requiring in-person attendance at quarterly staff briefings.

Concerns were raised regarding the current reporting of risks, given that the revocation of the Operator’s Licence was not featured on any risk registers despite being a single point of failure. Officers confirmed that the Corporate Risk Register would now be collectively reviewed quarterly by CMT, rather than annually. During these meetings, there would also be consideration given to the Service Risk Registers in order to promote or demote anything of relevance. In between these reviews, the Chief Executive had power to add immediate risks which had emerged from unexpected events, such as a humanitarian crisis. In addition, the Chief Executive had incorporated risk management into Directors’ annual appraisals in order to ensure that they were having direct conversations with their services that may not be complying with their statutory requirements. Those that continued to not comply, would be escalated back to the Chief Executive.

In the cases of risks within specific posts which may not appear on the Risk Registers, such as the loss of required qualifications, further work was being carried out to review Job Descriptions and have risks flagged up through the HR systems when there is a vacancy or absence in order to put step-in arrangements in place.

Members requested that a current draft of the Council-wide resilience review be circulated to them outside of the meeting.