Are Local Authorities Ready to Promote BCM to Their Communities
Category Business Continuity Article
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Following the range of disasters that have struck communities across the UK over recent years it was recognised by the Government that there was a need to build greater resilience into those commercial, public and voluntary organisations that are part of local communities. Unless these organisations are able to quickly return to normal following a disaster then the economic and social life of a community can be seriously affected.
The Civil Contingencies Act (CCA), which came into force on the 15 March 2005, requires local authorities to provide advice and assistance to those undertaking commercial activities and to voluntary organisations in relation to business continuity management (BCM) in the event of emergencies.
The guidance that supports the Act states that local authorities must provide general advice and assistance to the business and voluntary sector communities at large. They may provide specific advice and assistance to individual organisations; and may give advice and assistance to organisations in relation to the engagement of business continuity consultants.
In addition there is a requirement for local authorities to work with other public bodies to ensure that the BCM messages being promoted to the community are coherent and appropriate. The fire service is required to give advice about fire prevention and many brigades are also giving BCM advice to the organisations they visit. The local police forces have crime prevention and counter terrorism officers who are offering BCM advice as part of their promotional activities. Local Chambers of Commerce, Business Links and other bodies are also active in the community. It is essential that uniform messages be given out across the community if the quality of BC planning is to be achieved.
By the 15 May 2006 local authorities must have in place a programme of BCM promotion and assistance They will have had to identify what organisations need to know, selected appropriate means of delivery and developed appropriate BCM messages for the local audiences. They are encouraged to work with appropriate partners in the community. The level of planning for this important activity varies across the country.
Some authorities have already held BCM promotional events and developed their BCM material; Continuity Forum has been assisting many with their activities. Bristol City Council held their first event in May 2005 and is working with local publishers to get BCM material included in local publications. Reading first started a BCM Forum for local businesses over three years ago and this has now developed into a Berkshire wide forum where businesses, emergency services and representative bodies are meeting to ensure a uniform approach to BCM is achieved across their community. The City of London and Norfolk CC has for many years offered advice and provided BCM services to their communities.
Other good examples exist across the country. But there exists great deserts where the quality and quantity of BCM information is poor. There are some authorities that believe that all they need to do is to provide links from their websites to other sources of BCM information. Often these links are buried deep in their websites and can only be found by searching on key words. As the target groups for BCM promotion are the SME and voluntary sectors, whose directors and managers may not have heard of BCM, it is unlikely that they will ever access the information. It needs to be brought directly to their attention. Research last year by NaCTSO found that the SME community found information about security from the media and not via the Internet. It is the smaller organisations in the community that are most vulnerable when disaster occurs and therefore a proactive approach to promotion is needed if they are to be better prepared.
There is an acceptance by many of the emergency planning officers in the local authorities that the promotion of BCM is an activity which they should engage with. But their willingness to undertake the work is dampened by the lack of funds and the fear of legal action if they give wrong advice.
As part of the commitment to funding the Civil Contingencies Act the Government doubled the level of funding to local authorities to support the work required by the Act. The mistake they made was to include this funding in the normal budget allocation made to local authorities with no ring fence to ensure it is used to support the Act. The result is that many authorities have not allocated sufficient funds to allow the promotion activities to take place.
The Audit Commission recently carried out an audit of one authority’s activities in relation to the Act and was very concerned to find that only 50% of the centrally provided funds had been allocated to civil protection. They intend to ask the chief executive where the remaining funds have gone. This has been repeated across the country with many previous budgets for this work being cut at a time of increased statutory responsibilities.
I have also recently learnt that there is a reluctance to publish details of risks that the local community may face which is a mandatory requirement under the Act. One reason quoted was that if we acknowledge the risk and we are not taking action to mitigate it then we could be liable to be sued for damages by those affected if the risk materialises. Such is their concern that no record of local risks will be held on paper or electronically to prevent access requests under the Freedom of Information Act. I believe that such actions are against the Act and may put the community at greater risk of disruption.
With regard to the need for all those public bodies who are promoting BCM in the community to work together to ensure a uniformity of message there is much to do. The Local Resilience Forums (LRFs), which are based on police authority areas and have representatives from key public bodies, have a duty under the act to monitor and co-ordinate these messages.
The London Resilience Team’s Business Committee has for many years being meeting to ensure the needs of the business community are met. In the last 12 months they have started to develop BCM messages to be used by the public bodies in the greater London region. In contrast one Chair of a northern LRF has stated that this is not their concern and does not consider the needs of business as part of their remit.
Apart from a few isolated pockets there is no co-operation between the various public bodies to meet the BCM promotion requirements of the CCA. The police have been holding separate public events and not involving the local authorities. Publications are being independently developed by different organisations. Not only is there a danger of conflicting messages being published to the community but also vital financial resources are being wasted.
Whilst central government has recognised the importance of building resilience into the communities and promotion of the BCM message there is no drive from them to ensure that a uniform message is being developed and delivered. There are many departments who have responsibility for the public bodies involved in the promotion. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister looks after local authorities and the fire service, the Home Office has remit for the police whilst the NHS is covered by the Department of Health. The promotion of good business practice and corporate governance sits with the DTI who have made little effort to promote BCM to the SME community. The Cabinet Office has the responsibility of ensuring the CCA is enacted. If there is no ‘joined up’ action across central government departments what chance is there that this will occur at local level when local bodies have restricted budgets and performance targets set by their lead government departments.
If we are to achieve the aspirations that lie behind the CCA then we need to have a more uniform approach by all those with a responsibility for protecting the community and a commitment to ensure realistic budgets are available to enable them to deliver. We also need to ask those responsible for delivering the requirements of the Act about their level of commitment to building resilience communities.
John Sharp
Policy and Development Director
Continuity Forum
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