Agenda item

Presentation by Service Director Assets & Infrastructure on the strategic risks facing the service and the internal controls and governance in place to manage/mitigate those risks to demonstrate how risk management is embedded within services.(Verbal presentation.)

4.1       The Chairman welcomed Mr Martin Joyce, Service Director Assets and Infrastructure to the meeting.  Mr Joyce explained that included within Assets and Infrastructure were Service Risk Registers for Catering; Cleaning/Facilities; Capital Projects; Design Services (Engineering and Architecture); Environment; Estates; Fleet; Property; Roads; and Waste.  These Registers had been developed through the Business Planning Process and were owned by the Service Managers.  Reviews were carried out by the Service Director and the Management Team and risks were escalated to the Corporate Management Team as necessary.  There were a number of key overarching issues affecting the service including – financial pressures and the requirement for increased efficiency; time/cost/quality/inflation; increased demands and expectations; Government Policies and Legislation; Change Management; staffing resources; and a historical lack of investment.  There were also a number of key risks facing the service.  From an internal perspective, these included Health and Safety; Legislative Failure; Data Breach; Breach of Codes of Conduct; and non-compliance with policies/procedures; and SOs.  Mr Joyce advised that there were a number of external risks, namely Third Party failures involving contractors and design teams; contract management of projects; failure to inspect and maintain assets such as buildings, bridges and roads; and statutory/legislative compliance.  Mr Joyce reported that a range of measures in place to manage these risks such as effective project and programme and change management; change control and financial monitoring; the development of KPIs and inclusion of risk and regular monitoring as a key aspect of Business Planning; training, self-evaluation, peer review, inspections and scrutiny.  As part of his presentation, Mr Joyce gave examples of the Risk Registers for Hawick FPS and Jedburgh ICC.

4.2       In response to questions, Mr Joyce advised that in terms of Fleet, two names were required on the operating license.  A member of staff was currently acting up to this role on an interim basis to fill a vacancy as the Council had been unsuccessful in recruiting to the post.  This approach would increase team resilience and go some way to improving succession planning.  Mr Joyce confirmed that Health and Safety data was being transferred to LEXI and that measures such as the wearing of body cameras were in place to address operational risk.  Members were advised that following an incident in Liberton when a wall collapsed, SBC inspected every freestanding wall within the Council Estate, including boundary and retaining walls and went on to explain that 20% of property was inspected year on year, allowing the service to respond further if required.  Mr Joyce explained that in terms of project management, Tier 1 referred to the main contractor and Tiers 2 and 3 related to sub-contractors or so forth down the supply chain.  Mr Joyce clarified which organisations were responsible for buildings, depending on whether the building was shared or how it was operated and confirmed that SBC could provide specific expertise should this be required.  Managing Risk was monitored regularly and Mr Joyce gave examples of the scope and competency of Risk Registers across the service.  He explained that when contractors managed projects under their own systems, SBC would carry out Quality Management assessments to ensure comprehensive coverage of projects.  Mr Joyce went on to explain that extensive site investigations were carried out whenever it was possible to do so and enabled mitigation in advance or at an early stage of a project.  The Construction Risk Register was reviewed and updated on a monthly basis and included all aspects of any given project.  Discussion followed and Mr Joyce clarified a number of points relating to the management of major contracts and in relation to how SBC would respond should major business risks develop within a project.  The Chairman thanked Mr Joyce for his attendance.

DECISION

NOTED the presentation.