KEY STRATEGIC RISKS. Northumberland Sustainable Community Strategy

Transcription

1 APPENDIX 1 KEY STRATEGIC RISKS Northumberland Objectives: Northumberland Sustainable Community Strategy Northumberland County Council Objectives: Our Vision: Northumberland will be a thriving county where people choose to live, work, visit and invest Our Mission: We will listen and respond to local people and our partners, and we will be confident, innovative and be fair Our Values: Passionate Creative Opportunistic Customer Driven Efficient Consistent Trustworthy Our Priorites: Grow our local economy Improve our places and our environment Enable communities and families to be strong Help people to be healthy and independent Business Support; Sector Development; Education and Skills; Connectivity Sustainable Development; Town Centres; Modern infrastructure; Affordable Housing; Public Transport; Visitor Offer Community Safety; Community Development; Impacts of Welfare Reform; Troubled Families; Culture and Leisure dependent Living; Safeguarding; Targetted Support; Public Health & Wellbeing Supported and enabled through our organisation Customer Focus; vesting in our capacity; novation; Partnership and Collaboration 1 of 8

2 KEY STRATEGIC RISK REGISTER SUMMARY Net risk Likelihood Impact Net Grading Corporate Owner Political Owner 1 Successive funding cuts inter-related with implications associated with changes in the Local Government Finance System and the Welfare Reform Act, and increased demand for services as a result of the economic recession strategic objectives over the 2 Failure to address culture change, internally and externally, leads to failure to deliver services differently Steven Mason Grant Davey Steven Mason Grant Davey 3 Civil emergency, major incident or business interruption leads to loss of critical functions, buildings, ICT and/or staff Alex Bennett Dave Ledger 4 Retaining an excessively large estate leads to a portfolio comprising many assets in poor condition and not suitable for the Authority's needs Steven Mason Grant Davey 5 Following the negative judgement by Ofsted of the Council's ability and capacity to enable the improvement of its schools within the county, failure to progress actions could lead to further inspection and ultimately removal of responsibility for school improvement Daljit Lallty Robert Arkless 6 Positive : Participation in the Combined Authority (CA) integrated with a strong relationship with the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) could lead to enhanced ability to achieve the desired objectives for Northumberland Steven Mason Grant Davey App 1 format for publication max 9 lines Page 2 of 8

3 Potential Impacts Controls 1. Successive funding cuts Detrimental impacts across all contained within the strategic priorities. Comprehensive Spending Review, inter-related with implications associated with changes in the Local Government Finance System and the Welfare Reform Act, and increased demand for services as a result of the Customer / public dissatisfaction. Associated staff cuts have negative impact upon the economy (from staff previously travelling into the county to work, in addition to those living in the county). creased pressure on a wide range of council services, particularly housing, adult care and children's services, but also related to crime and e.g. community safety. Additional pressures on council tax and housing benefits. This impact will become worse in future government plans not to fund 100% subsidy. Medium Term Financial Planning on a 4 year rolling basis; incorporating robust budget preparation process including strong business cases, public consultation and detailed consideration of risks. Detailed budget approved giving certainty over two years ( ) and two years to develop plans for the following years. CLT are developing robust governance arrangements for implementation of the budget management programme comprising a mix of 14 operational and cross-cutting workstreams, and aiming to align with service planning and performance management. The Council has a healthy balance sheet. Provisions and financial reserves are risk assessed on an annual basis. Reserves are in a strong position to support the programme of change and mitigate risks over the short to Organisation structure maintained under regular review to ensure continued relevance to modern service delivery, meeting the needs of the public and other stakeholders at the same time as implementing associated cost savings. Package of council tax reliefs seeks to minimise the immediate financial impact of the Welfare Reform Act upon council tax benefit claimants, at the same time as protecting the funding stream to the Council. s relating to other benefits and to increasing council tax and tenants arrears are being monitored and analysed Corporate Owner: Steven Mason Political Owner: Grant Davey Impacts on communities across the county. Adverse impacts upon the health and well being of residents in Northumberland. Loss of confidence by the public in the Council. Adverse publicity; loss of reputation. Development and implementation of the Economic Growth Strategy; includes development of new business and new forms of employment in growth areas. Strategy approved and now developing delivery framework. Regeneration and inward investment boosted by Arch (The Northumberland Development Company, a 'profit for purpose' vehicle) programme of investment and re-investment towards achievement of Northumberland's Strategic Objectives. Equipping the whole county with superfast, affordable broadband connectivity. Review all Public Health contracts to ensure the Council is commissioning cost effective services with a primary focus on prevention, and achieving outcomes. App 1 format for publication max 9 lines Page 3 of 8

4 Potential Impacts Controls Successive Failure to address funding culture cuts contained change, internally within the and Comprehensive externally, could Spending lead to Review, failure to inter-related deliver services with implications differently. associated with changes in the Local Government Finance System and the Welfare Reform Act, and increased demand for services as a result of the Corporate Owner: Steven Mason Political Owner: Grant Davey Failure to introduce a learning culture. Lack of staff development. Blame culture leading to people not taking responsibility, not using their initiative and not willing to accept and be open to learning when things go wrong. No updating of skills and competencies. Managers not developing leadership qualities of vision, courage, visibility, role modelling and resilience. Failure to have a confident group of managers that are able to win the hearts and minds of staff or service users. decisive decision-making, procrastination and inability to see the potential of different ways of working. Outdated processes, policies and procedures that tie people into old ways of working. Silo-working that doesn't deliver the best outcomes, and joined up solutions, for the customer. Failure to establish and maintain effective partnership working with the public, voluntary and private sector. Failure to deliver better and more efficient services that meet customer needs. New organisational structure; incorporating a range of service delivery models e.g. shared service arrangements, Council-owned companies, Trusts. CLT leading on the development and implementation of initiatives; the performance framework, the 4 budget themes and the 14 workstreams of the budget management programme have been established. A high level action plan has been prepared including critical path identification to Accommodation, HR, communications and IT are the primary focus for x- cutting work over the next year. Digital Northumberland Strategy and work programmes covering the 5 core themes of places, communities, wellbeing, organisation and growth. Development and implementation of organisational development strategy; including training for directors and encompassing workforce planning, proactive use of workforce statistics and HR data and reviewing policies to support and promote new ways of working. Workforce plan and talent management and succession planning workstreams being initiated as part of the HR strategy. Accommodation Programme; overseen by CLT under strategic workstream 'I' 'rationalising our footprint'. Agile working workstream being initiated as part of HR strategy. Customer Services Work Programmes; Overseen by CLT under strategic workstream 'H' 'digital agenda and moving to self-service'. Culture change and employee engagement workstream being initiated as part of HR strategy. ternal communications and branding capacity; Development and implementation of Employee Engagement Plan. Neighbourhood plan projects: developing collaborative working with and between town and parish councils and local communities, and providing support and advice towards the development of neighbourhood plans which once adopted become part of the NCC Development Plan. Building positive relationships with communities and a more informed understanding by them of planning related matters. Voluntary and Community Sector Liaison Group with actions to be taken forward by cross-authority officer working group App 1 format for publication max 9 lines Page 4 of 8

5 Potential Impacts Controls Successive Civil emergency, funding major cuts contained incident or within business the Comprehensive interruption could Spending lead to Review, loss of critical inter-related functions, with implications buildings, ICT associated and staff. with changes in the Local Government Finance System and the Welfare Reform Act, and increased demand for services as a result of the This risk covers responding to emergencies and major incidents, maintaining service continuity during the response and aftermath, and maintaining service continuity throughout e.g. pandemic flu, strike action, adverse weather, loss of IT, loss of assets (e.g. premises and/or vehicles) and loss of power. Corporate Owner: Alex Bennett Lack of support to the community in an emergency. Disruption to service delivery which may have major impacts for service users and the Council depending upon the service affected. Loss of reputation. Adverse publicity. Emergency Community Assistance Plan and supporting Statutory and Generic Plans in Place which address the hazards identified within the Northumbria LRF Community Register Emergency Planning and compliance with requirements of the Civil Contingencies Act Development and testing of plans for responding to a major incident. V 4.0 of the NCC BCP published and individual Group BC Plans in preparation following NCC restructure. A cross cutting officer's working group is to be established to determine priorities for BCM planning across NCC and to agree a work plan aimed at creating individual plans for critical functions. 1 3 creased costs. ICT Disaster Recovery Plan Failure in statutory duty with adverse legal implications. Secondary data centre: critical to system resilience on a number of fronts. Primarily if systems fail, key (business critical) systems/services can be redirected to the secondary site. Additionally, the secondary data centre provides NCC with the ability to operate should County Hall be compromised. Programme of user testing for failure resilience. 87 Political Owner: Dave Ledger Accommodation Group work programmes building resilience in the provision of accommodation and new ways of working. E.g. Corporate shared office in operation in Cramlington with the next scheduled for Blyth. Digital Northumberland work programmes building resilience in provision of accommodation, new ways of working and transacting with the public. E.g. Google trial complete with proposed roll out to be aligned to resilience needs. App 1 format for publication max 9 lines Page 5 of 8

6 Potential Impacts Controls Successive Retaining an funding excessively cuts contained large estate within leads the to a Comprehensive portfolio comprising Spending many Review, assets in inter-related poor condition with and implications not suitable for associated the with changes Authority's in needs. the Local Government Finance System and the Welfare Reform Act, and increased demand for services as a result of the creasing levels of backlog maintenance. Potential savings in property maintenance and other running costs not realised. Potential value of assets reducing as property deteriorates. Accommodation Group established to develop options and implement agreed programme across the county, sponsored by Chief Executive. Accommodation Group Programme and Workstreams; three main areas of focus (i) county hall campus, (ii) town presence and (iii) new ways of working. Programme is adequately resourced with relevant specialists and dedicated management and technical support. Maintained under ongoing review Corporate Owner: Steven Mason Political Owner: Grant Davey Assets not fit for purpose; not suitable to meet the needs of new service delivery models. Health and safety risks; potentially leading to serious incident or/and to closure (or part closure) of buildings. Financial strain on the Council. Criticism by External Audit in value for money assessment. Failure to deliver organisational and service change and achieve corporate plan objectives. Robust project governance; consistent application of project management best practice principles. Protocol for dealing with accommodation issues during programme development and implementation. tegration with other high profile projects with project leads sitting on the Accommodation Group and workstreams included within the Programme as appropriate. CLT facilitating and enabling linkages across the Council, for example through organisational development and in service statements, and overall co-ordination and monitoring of budget management workstreams. Engagement and involvement of lead members, particularly the Leader of the Council and the Deputy Business Chairperson as political sponsor. Monthly reporting of progress against plan and items for decision as appropriate to CLT, Cabinet Capital Advisory Group and Cabinet. Adverse publicity. Range of stakeholders identified and Communications Plan being reviewed and updated on an ongoing basis. Site visits. Communications Strategy for each town. Town Champions independent of project team managing stakeholder engagement. App 1 format for publication max 9 lines Page 6 of 8

7 Potential Impacts Controls Successive Following the funding negative cuts contained judgement within by Ofsted the of the Comprehensive Council's ability Spending and Review, capacity inter-related to enable the with implications improvement associated of its schools with changes within the in county, the Local failure to Government progress actions Finance could System lead and to further Welfare inspection Reform and Act, and ultimately increased removal demand of for services responsibility as a result for school of the economic improvement. recession could This could result in more direct criticism of the Local Authority. Ultimately, it could result in use of central powers to remove the Director of Children's Services and replacement with a DfE appointee; alternatively placing the Authority in 'government intervention' status could be a potential outcome. The Council would be subject to very regular monitoring and challenge by the DfE and Ofsted. The Council could be directed to invest more funding in improvement. Restructuring at senior management level and of the Education and Skills Service. Review of school improvement structure and operation. Actions taken to prevent schools going in to special measures. Strategic Vision developed and shared with all Northumberland schools and settings; includes a 5 year action plan and targets Being subject to very regular monitoring would require additional resource in staff time to feed the process. Plans and associated performance targets to be reviewed annually. Reduced morale within schools could result in headteachers resigning, recruitment problems and resource deficit; this could further impact negatively upon academic achievement. Self evaluation via the Annual Report. Corporate Owner: Daljit Lally Political Owner: Robert Arkless Children and young people fail to meet their academic potential. Poor educational outcomes leads to poor employability skills across Northumberland. Significant reputational damage and reduced public perception of the Local Authority; More schools decide to become academies. Revised web presence to improve engagement with schools and the public, with Special Education Needs & Disabilities (SEND) offer included. Proactive 'client management', acting on feedback regarding Local Authority services to schools, and monitoring SLA take-up as a perception measure. Lack of confidence by Ofsted in NCC leadership could trigger an inspection under the Single spection Framework (SIF) that includes Children's Social Care, or a Local Authority School Improvement Service spection (LAASSI). Engagement of all corporate services in protecting and improving Local Authority working relationships with schools; with particular emphasis on key services e.g. formation Services. App 1 format for publication max 9 lines Page 7 of 8

8 Potential Impacts Controls Successive Positive : funding cuts contained Participation within in the the Comprehensive Combined Authority Spending (CA) Review, integrated inter-related with a strong with implications relationship with associated the Local with changes Enterprise in Partnership the Local (LEP) Government could lead to Finance enhanced System and ability the to Welfare achieve Reform the desired Act, and objectives increased for demand for services Northumberland. as a result of the Improved exercise of statutory functions in relation to economic growth, skills and transport and thus success in enhancing the economic conditions for Northumberland and performance. Greater competitiveness in attracting inward investment compared to other authorities in the region and Scotland. Raised reputation; positive press. Governance Review undertaken to determine the Scheme submitted to and approved by Government. Constitution for the CA - includes identification of key decisions where agreement to proceed has to be unanimous (during formative 3 years). Constitution provides for a scrutiny role / committee involving representatives from each authority. A standards and audit committee to obtain assurance that decisions are made on a judicial basis Higher confidence of business sector; higher confidence of Government. Funding and operating agreement sets out how the 7 local authorities will work together in the Combined Authority. Corporate Owner: Steven Mason Political Owner: Grant Davey Proposals for integrated working of the CA and LEP to be developed in light of devolution deal. Proposed devolution signed; conditional upon the outcome of the spending review, further consultation and agreement by the 7 constituent local authorities, the Combined Authority and the Minister. Development and implementation of the Economic Growth Strategy for Northumberland to include identification of (i) how Northumberland can contribute to and impact upon CA/LEP objectives and (ii) expectations regarding how the CA/LEP can contribute towards Northumberland objectives. Work within the CA is appropriately reported to Members to promote a wider understanding of the importance of the CA, NCC's involvement within it and resulting outcomes for the county. App 1 format for publication max 9 lines Page 8 of 8