Members received the report of the Executive Director updating the Committee on issues in Risk Management affecting the Council during 2020/21.

The year had been dominated by dealing with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic both in terms of the Council’s operations and the support given to the community and a number of risk management related lessons had been learnt that would help the Council in responding going forward, including:

•           Sustainably meeting a long-term crisis - the Council’s business continuity plans, along with policies, needed to be expanded and reviewed to reflect the changes in how the Council was currently working.

•           Diversion of staff resources/expansion of role through government expectation/direction – in times of national crisis, the role of the Council was likely to expand.

•           Supply chains – demand for certain products, such as ICT equipment and the right quality of PPE, was outstripping supply.

•           Contractor resilience – business continuity plans were in place to deal with effectively, but at a cost to the Council.

•           ICT – the role of ICT had been pivotal, from enabling staff to work from home, developing the website to enabling remote and on-line meetings throughout the pandemic.  The work delivered had put the Council in a much stronger position to deal with any future crisis but would need to be maintained and updated.

•           Flexible workforce – having a committed and flexible workforce was essential in order to respond to the crisis and Rother excelled at not only responding to the specific threats of COVID-19 but made use of its social media channels to promote messages relating to COVID-19.

•           Members – an essential resource and conduit between the Council, residents and businesses.

The Corporate Risk Register was attached to the report at Appendix A and a number of items were brought to the attention of Members relating to the potential impact and mitigation to a pandemic.  An officer team led by an Executive Director had been established to manage these risks and to co-ordinate the Council’s response to the pandemic including liaison with the Sussex Resilience Forum which maintained oversight of all the Sussex Councils, health and emergency services activities.

Members noted that the measures the Council had put in place meant it would be in a strong position to maintain services including scaling up the community hub activities in the event that there was a resurgence of COVID-19 over the winter period as expected.  This would however result in the Council’s day to day business suffering further if staff resources needed to be redirected to other areas of work.  It was not clear if further Government funding would be forthcoming to help support the Council.

Members raised concerns about emerging risks from expected planning legislative changes which were currently out for consultation; the Chief Executive designate confirmed that appropriate representations were being made on behalf of the Council.

Members and the Chief Executive designate praised officers for their response to the COVID-19 pandemic and noted the lessons learnt.  The mental well-being of staff continuing to work remotely would need to be considered and one way of achieving this was the imminent introduction of a group of staff trained as Mental Health First Aiders.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.