The ‘top risk’ currently facing Scarborough Council is the loss of critical staff, says council director
The topic was spoken about on Thursday.
The “top risk” currently faced by Scarborough Council is the loss of critical staff, according to a senior council officer.
Lisa Dixon, a director at Scarborough Council, told members of the audit committee that “failure to have effective business continuity in terms of staff resilience” was the “top risk” currently facing the authority.
Second on the list of ten top risks currently facing the council is a failure to “recruit and retain staff”.
At a meeting of the audit committee on Thursday 21 July, councillors received a presentation outlining the top ten risks to the council.
“We have experienced issues around professional staff retention in the past, however, it is now affecting service delivery across the board”, said Ms Dixon.
“Certainly, if you talk to Stuart Clark who manages the Spa on behalf of the council, he will tell you that recruiting staff to work within that organisation is causing issues with service delivery down there.”
However, the director added that this was not an issue that was “unique to this particular council”.
When it comes to staff recruitment, she said the emphasis should now be on “keeping business going at a satisfactory level” and providing “business as usual”.
The upcoming local government reorganisation (LGR), which will see borough councils replaced by a new North Yorkshire Council, has also affected the council’s recruitment and staff retention owing to “uncertainty”.
Last week Scarborough Council’s chief executive, Michael Greene, announced he was leaving after three years at the helm to take up a position as managing director at Stockton-on-Tees Council.
However, Ms Dixon added that all staff could continue working for the new authority with their existing terms and conditions.
Other risks that were highlighted in the report include a failure to provide an effective internal communication strategy as well as a failure to deliver the council’s corporate plan due to the LGR.
Councillors also received a presentation on cyber security threats which were placed at number five on the list of risks.