Archived decisions

CORPORATE STRATEGY FOR MANAGING RISK

1. In the context of the County Council's operations, the term "risk management" incorporates all the activities required to identify and control the Council's exposure to risk that may have an impact on the achievement of its corporate service and business objectives. The aim is to support better decision making through a good understanding of risks and their likely impact. The ability to be risk-aware, rather than risk-averse, is key.

2. Risk management was first introduced within the County Council in 1999 and through the establishment of a Risk Management Board chaired by the Chief Executive and departmental risk management teams, its principles have been steadily developed and refined. Building on this excellent progress, the Cabinet has now approved a policy document entitled, "Corporate Strategy for Managing Risk" which covers the period 2003/04 to 2005/06 and seeks to ensure that risk management becomes an integral part of Members' and officers' thinking through from policy-making to service delivery. The Strategy also contains an agreed set of standards and targets for measuring the County Council's success in risk management and identifies areas for continued improvement.

3. A copy of the Strategy document, which will be reviewed by the Risk Management Board every two years, may be obtained from the Chief Executive and will soon be available on the County Council's website.