The Continuity Forum asks "Will the election impact on Business Continuity?"

As we enter the final few days of the various political parties campaigning we asked the question are there any implications to the business continuity profession. Over the past 13 years we have seen our profession transform from a relatively small niche specialisation to a far more widely understood professional discipline. Much of this has been achieved with the support of central government, through the Cabinet office and its civil contingencies Secretariat a huge amounts of development and promotion has been undertaken. This has transformed the landscape for those businesses working within the field and certainly helped those working to promote business continuity significantly.

Preparing or Politics?

Proper preparation can prevent poor performance

Managing Domestic Terrorism Event - Jan 23rd - South East

Business today faces many new threats, and the management of these threats is rapidly becoming a major factor in business planning.

Is Terrorism just one more threat, or are there specific risks, separate from other business issues, that need to be considered?

Government guidelines are available to all, but how can you be sure that you have understood and adapted the guidelines to suit your own specific requirements? Can you be sure that you have done everything necessary, by law and by logic, to protect your business and your people?

New plan for London's Pandemic Planning

As organisations planning falters...

The Government Office for London's Resilience Team has just released the updated plan to detailing its plans to address the threat of Pandemic. This update follows enhanced guidance from the Department of Health and the Cabinet Office.

Hundreds of actors found themselves hired for an unusual performance earlier this month - faking illness. The actors, part of the USA's largest ever terrorism drill, played people suffering from the effects of a biological agent.

Updated guidance on how to cope in a heatwave has been issued by the government's health adviser as the country gears up for hot temperatures.

Early indications from the Met Office hint at a warmer than average July and August this summer.

England's Chief Medical Officer Professor Sir Liam Donaldson set out measures people can take to protect their own health.

An investigative report issued by the U.S. and Canadian governments surrounding the worst power failure in U.S. history is shedding light on the importance of business continuity planning through findings that the electric-system catastrophe could have been prevented.

The Government remains on track to bring the bulk of the duties in Part 1 of the Act fully into force in November 2005.

National Audit Office lauches Self Assessment tools for Local Authorities

The Civil Contingencies Act supports the promotion of greater resilience among public agencies and the wider local community.

The Act makes now an appropriate time for authorities to review current arrangements. It promotes business continuity as well as emergency planning, recognising that preparedness is an issue for the whole local authority and the businesses within the area. There is no preferred structure for delivering the services covered by the bill. Much will depend on local issues (for example local hazards such as the number of COMAH sites; the internal arrangements of the local authority regarding risk management and links between emergency planning, risk and business continuity arrangements.)

Organised gangs are using distribution e-mail lists to cleverly engineer mails that look legitimate and relevant.

The Home Office said many of the attacks seemed to originate from Asia.

The warning is aimed at government departments and businesses that are part of the UK's Critical National Infrastructure (CNI).

The government's NISCC works with the CNI so that computer systems which run critical infrastructure, such as telecommunications, energy, and power station networks, are protected.