Risk Reports and Review | Cumberland Intranet

The Cumberland Council Strategic Risk Register has been compiled from the existing strategic risk registers of the four legacy councils. A skeleton Strategic Risk Register with 22 strategic risks was agreed by Senior Leadership Team in May 2023, with responsibility for each strategic risk assigned to a member of the Senior Leadership Team. The registers have been developed through a series of workshops with the relevant management teams and the first Strategic Risk Register was reported to Cumberland's Audit Committee on 10th October 2023.

The latest updates to the registers were reported to the Audit Committee on 17th September 2024:

Previous updates have been made to the Audit Committee on:

Westmorland and Furness Council's 2024/25 Strategic Risk Reports were presented to their Audit Committee:

Quarter 1 report on 20th September 2024.

Westmorland and Furness Council's 2023/24 Strategic Risk Reports were presented to their Audit Committee:

Quarter 1 report on 20th September 2023.
Quarter 2 report on 11th December 2023.
Quarter 3 report on 5th March 2024.
Quarter 4 report on 10th June 2024.

Details of the legacy authority Risk Management reports which were used as the initial basis for the corporate register can be found below:

Allerdale Borough Council (not available).
Carlisle City Council – People Panel 12 January 2023.
Copeland Borough Council – Audit Committee 23 March 2023.
Cumbria County Council – Audit and Assurance Committee 9 March 2023.

Strategic Risk Report and Risk Register

A Strategic Risk monitoring report will be delivered regularly to the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and the Audit Committee (currently an 8 week reporting cycle).

This will monitor progress in the management of the risk exposure for each strategic risk, including future mitigations, identify any emerging risks, any potential escalating risks and monitor the progress of risk improvement activities and the overall effectiveness of the risk management arrangements.

Those strategic risk registers with a risk score above the significant risk exposure threshold (15-25) are also reported by exception to SLT (currently a 4 week reporting cycle) to note changes in risk scores, the implementation of new controls and the introduction of new planned activities and/or new causes.

SLT also monitor those significant operational risks which are escalated by the relevant Director, due to the risks having a wider implication on the Council. These risks will be monitored by SLT, alongside the strategic risk register exception report, until sufficient mitigating controls have been introduced to limit the significant level of risk exposure.

Local Risks

One of the key requirements of The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 was for Category 1 and Category 2 responders to form a 'Local Resilience Forum' based on Police areas. In Cumbria, this is known as the Cumbria Resilience Forum and consists of all organisations and agencies involved with emergency response in our communities.

Cumbria Resilience Forum also produces the Community Risk Register (CRR) which lists possible risks, their probability of occurring and potential impact. The CRR provides information on the biggest emergencies that could happen in Cumbria, together with an assessment of how likely they are to happen and the impacts if they do. This includes the impacts to people, their houses, the environment and local businesses. It is designed to inform people about the risks that could occur where they live, so they can think about what they can do to be better prepared in their homes, communities and businesses.

In 2022 Cumbria Local Resilience Forum has also prepared a Community Risk Register information leaflet and booklet - Cumbria Community Risk Register Booklet.

National Risks

The Government have updated the National Risk Register (2023 Edition) which outlines the most serious risks facing the United Kingdom. It is an external version of the National Security Risk Assessment (NSRA), which is the government’s assessment of the most serious risks facing the UK. The risks that meet the threshold for inclusion in the NRR would have a substantial impact on the UK’s safety, security and/or critical systems at a national level.

World Economic Forum - Global Risks Report 2024

World Economic Forum conducts an annual Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS) which has underpinned their Global Risks Report for nearly two decades and is their premier source of original global risks data. The 2024 GRPS has brought together leading insights
on the evolving global risks landscape from 1,490 experts across academia, business, government, the international community and civil society.

The Global Risks Report 2024 (full version) presents the results of the GRPS, with risks ranked by severity over the short and long term. Key findings of the report are summarised here (scroll down that page) and additional resources are available here.

“The Global Risks Report explores some of the most severe risks we may face over the next decade, against a backdrop of rapid technological change, economic uncertainty, a warming planet and conflict. As cooperation comes under pressure, weakened economies and societies may only require the smallest shock to edge past the tipping point of resilience.”