Agenda item

L Morris introduced the item and gave a brief update. She noted that the paper covered two main areas: the risk management development activity and how we are progressing, as well as the key risks to the organisation.

In terms of the developments, the Risk Management Framework is being implemented and are progressing well.  Workshops are being delivered with business plan owners and members of the respective team.  The workshops include:

·       a presentation on the core principles of risk management to provide training to drive consistency.

·       socialisation of the Risk Management Framework and discussion about what that means for the directorate, managers and teams.

·       workshops have then been focused on a Control, Risk Self-Assessment exercise to identify, assess and evaluate risks taking account of the business plan deliverables. 

Consideration has been given to any outstanding risks arising in the workstreams of the Integration Programme, aligned risks from the 4Risk system used by Operational Transport and also the stood down MCA risk registers.

Since the ASRC paper was written and the table and pie chart prepared further progress has taken place, 18 out of 21 workshops have been delivered, 12 teams have an initial risk register finalised, in so much as they can be, 6 have draft risk registers and 3 workshops have been booked in the diary with preparation work either complete or in progress. 

Once all the risk registers are in place, the MCA will then be in a position to enhance the reporting into ASRC to include high level risks and to de-escalate the lower-level risks in line with the Risk Management Framework.

Work is underway to test a Risk Management technical system to operate as the central repository for risk and to facilitate much of the reporting.  Much of the graphics in this paper have been derived from that system as we have input the Corporate Risks as part of our testing of the demonstration model.  L Morris said that she would be interested to hear if members are now content that the report addresses the request for additional dashboard information. 

Regarding the actual high and medium high-level risks, Operational Transport presents concerns, including:

·       The value of the Recovery Funding to 4^th October has been defined and is insufficient to meet the needs of the existing network.  Work continues in this area.

·       Funding for the Bus Service Improvement Plan was not awarded by Government and despite this the MCA continues to progress the Enhanced Partnership arrangements to the original timescales. 

·       Regarding the work associated with the end of the Tram Concession a paper is to be presented to the MCA in July covering Options & Assessment of Operating Models. 

The risk relating to the Integration Programme has been closed in light of the move to Business as Usual arrangements and any residual risks considered within the risk workshops. 

We also propose to close the risk relating to the Mayoral Election at the point the risk becomes spent, which is the end of this month. 

The Chair opened it up for questions and comments from members.

R Jarvis offered that in the year that L Morris has been involved there has been a vast improvement and that he is impressed at this.  R Jarvis offered his congratulations and L Morris should take a great deal from that.   He expressed that he liked the graphs throughout the paper.  

R Jarvis said that he had some questions, on p32, the red risks are sitting in the Operational Transport area, and they are also recorded in the Infrastructure and Place Directorate. He asked if the Executive Director post for that Directorate, that was advertised a few months ago, had been filled. The Chief Financial Officer, G Sutton, responded and informed members that role is currently filled by M Swales, but it is currently out for recruitment due to his new role, as of the 1^st July as the Interim Chief Executive.  Also, Strategic leads are in place in that Directorate including a Strategic Transport lead and a Public Transport lead.  He assured members that progress is being made to fill outstanding posts to build on the Target Operating Model.

R Jarvis continued to ask about resourcing risk and the proposed rail strike and visibility of such risks.

L Morris confirmed to members that within the Corporate Risk Register there is a risk relating to Workforce and additionally resourcing risks are being identified within team risk registers.  The intention is that once all team risk registers are in place the MCA will be able to assess any correlation to the Corporate Risks and escalate as necessary.  This is part of the work in progress. 

S Davenport agreed and explained that resourcing is picked up in most of the departmental plans.  The MCA has a recruitment drive to deliver the operating model proposed through the Integration Programme.  The rail strike is not a direct risk to the MCA however, high inflation and pay claims going up is likely to impact more widely.  Similar risks are coming up across all sectors. He added that the MCA is having a significant recruitment drive and have increased capacity in Human Resources to help with this. R Jarvis asked whether the organisation is having to put up salaries to attract people through recruitment. S Davenport remarked that this was entirely dependent on the sector and the organisation addresses these risks as they arise.

The Chief Executive, D Smith, added that as we are trying to manage this in difficult circumstances, the Head of HR is now reporting weekly to the leadership board, so we can look at the issues arising because of this and to consider the tactics we are deploying to attract the right candidates to the roles. The organisation’s critical roles have been filled on an interim basis whilst recruitment takes place and they are not left empty.

G Sutton added that the pressures the organisation is facing are not just due to internal vacancies but also because of vacancies in partner organisations as well, such as construction roles, employees within Adult Education Providers and also within Internal Audit Providers.  The pressures in our partners are impacting on us. 

The Chair opened the floor up to questions and comments.

Cllr Auckland clarified with L Morris on her question within the presentation and whether the paper met the needs and previous requests for dashboard information from members of the Committee.  He agreed that it is comprehensive and meets the need raised during previous meetings.  A Marshall seconded this and joined R Jarvis in congratulating L Morris on her success since joining the MCA and on the Committee and stated that it was a very good report.  A Marshall also asked officers who will be picking up L Morris’s work when L Morris has moved on.  C James confirmed that this will sit within her Governance team.

RESOLVED: That members noted the updated position and raised any questions necessary.