Councils often fail to evaluate and manage risks in a structured and formalised way, the Audit Commission has found.
The recent commission's management paper, “Worth the Risk: Improving Risk Management in Local Government”, provided practical advice to councils on how to address key business risks.
The commission said the way councils dealt with risk could have a major impact on whether they achieved their key strategic objectives.
To remedy this situation, the commission's paper recommended councillors took a lead in establishing good risk management, that risk management was embedded in existing processes and not seen as a one-off event and that authorities became pragmatic and recognised that risk management did not eliminate risk.
Commission controller Andrew Foster said successful risk management could make a council more flexible and responsive to new pressures and external demands.
“It allows an authority to be better able to meet the needs and expectations of its community,” he said.
Hosted by comedian and actor Tom Allen, 34 Gold, 23 Silver and 22 Bronze awards were handed out across an amazing 34 categories recognising brilliance and innovation right across the breadth of UK general insurance.
