Risk management

Everyone in the School has a responsibility for identifying and managing risks, but as a Head of Department, you have responsibility for ensuring that all those in your Department manage the risks that apply to them and their work.

Most of the time this manifests itself in very straightforward and commonsense ways such as avoiding or reducing health and safety or security risks, but there are more significant risks that firstly need to be identified, and then managed to reduce their likelihood and/or impact. These more significant risks could include the sudden loss of a key member of staff, loss of funding, over or under-recruitment.

Risk Management is overseen on behalf of the Council by the Risk Committee which has a Pro-Director, an Academic Governor and an Academic Member.

At the Conveners Consultative Forum (CCF) meeting held on 2 May 2006, Conveners asked for a clear statement of their responsibilities for risk management and the actions they needed to take to fulfil their responsibilities.

Heads of Departments' responsibilities for risk fall basically into two main categories:

providing academic leadership in areas of strategic performance, failure in which would give rise to serious consequences for the department and the School;
ensuring that the department has key processes in place, the absence or failure of which would give rise to serious consequences for the department and School.

Attached is a summary of the Heads of Departments' responsibilities for risk management based on the current statement of responsibilities listed in this handbook (page 5). The risks and the risk controls are based on the risk analysis in the School's strategic plan. Section 4 'regulations and legal obligations' embraces a range of actions for ensuring compliance, responsibility for which is often delegated to Departmental Managers.

In the preparation of your Departmental Development plans you will have considered the most strategic aspect of the risks listed below.

Any queries or comments on this document should be sent to Jenny Bone, ext 4622, email j.bone@lse.ac.uk

Area of Heads of Department Responsibility	Risk linked to Area of responsibility	Risk controls for which Heads of Departments have responsibility
1 Academic Planning & Management	1.1 Quality of Department's research may fall	1.1 Providing academic leadership in the development of departmental research priorities, plans and programmes; prepares submission to the RAE; including encouraging staff to produce top quality work
	1.2 Department may not continue to generate innovative teaching programmes	1.2 Providing academic leadership in the development and revision of degree courses and programmes to ensure they are innovative and up to date
	1.3 Department's student recruitment may not meet targets	1.3 Providing academic leadership in the development and revision of degree courses and programmes to ensure they remain attractive to students Ensuring adequate arrangements are in place to select students, fairly allocate available scholarships and meet recruitment targets agreed with PIMU in 3 year rolling programme Ensuring arrangements are in place for provision of accurate up-to-date information on the Department
2 Personnel & Resource Management	2.1 Key members of faculty may not be retained	2.1 Ensuring a fair & reasonable allocation of teaching workloads Ensuring staff are able to take advantage of their leave entitlements and appropriate cover is available to meet teaching obligations of staff on leave Ensuring monitoring arrangements are in place for junior staff and help and training is available to staff Allocating suitably qualified appraisers in the Dept and ensure all academic staff receive advice on research plans and funding possibilities Reviewing staff performance annually and make cases for staff undergoing Interim and Major Reviews, being put forward for promotion or salary incrementation Maintaining staff morale by managing and defusing interpersonal conflicts and grievances to ensure an harmonious working environment Ensuring adequate consultation takes place within the department on matters of general concern and alerting staff to School wide issues that have to be addressed Ensuring budget allocations among staff are fair and equitable
	2.2 Department may not be able to resource plans	2.2 Developing medium term departmental plans covering teaching, research, staffing and resources for submission to APRC Determining MSL deployment and non-staff budget allocations, ensuring expenditure is within budget limits Providing leadership in the development of alternative income streams for the department
3 Students, Teaching & Quality Assurance	3.1 Students may be dissatisfied with quality of teaching	3.1 Ensuring the teaching, research student supervision and examination programmes of the department are organised to fulfil obligations Ensuring the quality of educational provision is maintained and where possible enhanced; acting on results of School surveys and other info about course delivery and teacher performance Ensuring the department is prepared for internal and external reviews of its teaching quality and education processes Ensuring that appropriate sub committees are in place to assess student reactions to teaching programmes and to maintain good staff: student relations
4 Regulations & Legal Obligations	4.1 Department may breach statutory and regulatory obligations	4.1 Ensuring , through seeking guidance from the appropriate officers in the Central Administration, that the Department's operations, policies and plans comply with financial regulations, HEFCE requirements, and legal obligations, currently Race Equality, Disability, Freedom of Information, Data Protection, Health & Safety, Risk management. The operation side is dealt with by the Departmental Manager
5 Consultation & Representation	5.1 The Department's interests may not be adequately represented at School level	5.1 Taking part in the CCF and generally acting as the Department's representative, advising the Directorate and senior officers on matters of common concern to the department on strategic issues, School policies and practices Representing the department at fundraising, alumni and public relations. events Ensuring appropriate representation of staff at degree ceremonies