Decision details

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST MADE FOR THIS ITEM:

None

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

1. Approved the Business Continuity Policy.

Reasons for decision

The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 places a statutory duty on the council to have business continuity plans in place to be able to maintain its essential functions in an emergency.

These duties are reflected in the Resilience Standards for London, in which all London boroughs report on the adequacy of their emergency planning and resilience arrangements.  Business Continuity Management is a key pillar of these standards.

Having a clear policy is a requirement under the relevant international standard IS022301 Business Continuity Management and therefore represents good practice. 

The policy sets a clear framework for how the council will carry out its statutory duties in preparing business continuity plans, and assuring that they are fit for purpose.  It therefore provides assurance for our residents that the council is making suitable arrangements to maintain its essential services during an emergency.

This completes an action in the Business Continuity Management Improvement Plan developed from the Business Continuity Audit in 2023.

This is a key decision as although it is not likely to result in the local authority incurring expenditure, it introduces a policy that affects all wards and all council services.

Alternative options considered

Do Nothing.   This is not recommended.  Without this policy the Council will not meet a key requirement of the Mazars audit and subsequent BC Improvement Plan. There will also be a lack of clarity around both the corporate and service level Business Continuity plans in terms of requirements, processes, roles, responsibilities, governance and assurance of the programme.

It would also negatively affect the level of assurance the Council would report via the Resilience Standards for London.  This is the assurance framework administered by London Councils, by which London local authorities provide assurance on their readiness to deal with major emergencies.

Without the policy, it may be less easy to maintain effective business continuity plans and arrangements. If the council subsequently suffered from a prolonged, difficult business continuity incident, the lack of an up-to-date policy would leave the council exposed to severe adverse criticism.