Wandsworth Council's Audit Committee has agreed to share the council's corporate risk register with the Cabinet, Shadow Cabinet, and Chairs of Overview and Scrutiny Committees. This decision was made during a meeting on Thursday, July 30, 2026, where the committee reviewed a strategic update on risk management.
The strategic update, presented by Kevin Holland, Assistant Director for Fraud, Risk and Insurance, was prompted by feedback from Members and senior officers regarding the level of visibility within the existing framework for collating the oversight of risk management with limitation on visibility of the matrix used for the assessment of inherent and residual risk scores, direction of travel, and historical context for key risks.
This was partly due to a dated manual process for collating Service and Directorate assessments of risk management.
Councillor Annamarie Critchard proposed that the risk management paper be forwarded to the Cabinet, Shadow Cabinet, and Chairs of Committees for their review, a motion that was seconded and carried. Councillor Critchard suggested this would provide insight into the Council's thinking about approaches to things, noting that 'not every appointee is skilled in a certain area, because we know the nature of political appointments as you put people in to say thank you sometimes and everything else.'
Councillor Stephen Worrall expressed reservations, stating his belief that this action was outside the committee's remit, but ultimately agreed to the compromise of sharing the paper. Councillor Baron also expressed reservations, believing it was outside the committee's remit.
The committee also noted progress on updating the council's risk management approach and digital platform. The council is shifting from a largely manual, biannual process to a more dynamic, digital, and quarterly risk management framework.
A new digital platform is being developed in-house using SharePoint folders and templates to capture and evaluate risks. This platform has been rolled out to Service Heads and is expected to replace manual forms with an online platform and an inbuilt escalation process. Expected improvements include real-time updates and increase visibility across departments,
support for quarterly reviews,
and improved data integrity.
The corporate risk register, as set out in Appendix A of the report, was also reviewed and commented upon. The meeting's agenda and reports can be found in the Agenda frontsheet and Public reports pack for the meeting.
