Keynote address at Protecting Your Business Seminar

4 April

Business continuity management (BCM) is a process that helps manage risks to the smooth running of an organisation or delivery of a service, ensuring continuity critical

functions in the event of a disruption, and effective recovery thereafter.

The Government aims to ensure all organisations have a clear understanding of BCM - this year's Chartered Management Institute Survey shows that fewer than half

of businesses currently have business continuity plans in place.    

Good BCM helps organisations identify their key products and services and the threats to these.

Planning and exercising minimises the impact of potential disruption. It also aids in the prompt resumption of service helping to protect market share, reputation and brand.

In order to be successful, BCM must be regarded as an integral part of an organisation's normal ongoing management processes.

To achieve this top-level buy-in is vital as it disseminates the importance of BCM throughout the organisation.

Engaging senior staff is crucial to the success of any major programme because of the influence they have over resource allocation and the culture of an organisation.  

Government takes BCM seriously, so much so that Business continuity duty was included into the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. 

The Act requires that Category 1 responders (which include local Authorities and Emergency Services) to have effective arrangements in place to ensure that they can

continue to deliver their emergency related functions in an emergency.

The Act also requires local authorities to provide advice and assistance to businesses and voluntary organisations in relation to business continuity management. This duty is an integral part of the Act's wider contribution to building the UK's resilience to disruptive challenges. 

 A collaborative, UK-wide drive for effective business continuity for all organisations needs support and leadership at the national level across all the sectors.

Government works closely with business representatives and voluntary organisations through a number of forums. (For example - specific forums on business continuity in the financial and energy sectors have been set up and in addition to these group, business representative groups such as CBI and Federation of Small Businesses attend a 'Business Advisory Group on Civil Protection' which seeks to provide guidance and support to business.) 

The government has supported the development of Business Continuity Management Standard (BS25999) which establishes the process, principles and terminology for BCM and was developed in conjunction with a range of practitioners.  

In the North West there is a regional framework for civil protection; comprising the NW Regional Resilience Forum (brings together LAs, central government agencies, armed forces and emergency services) and associated forums and sub-groups, supported by Government Office for the North West.

Floods, the Glasgow airport fire and foot and mouth disease all graphically demonstrated the importance of disaster recovery planning.

Many businesses in Manchester could have opened sooner had they had a Business Continuity Plan in place following the IRA bomb in 1996.

Many companies, especially SMEs, have no business continuity plans in place, arguing either that they do not need them or that they are too expensive and complex. 

 SMEs are at greater risk than big business, since the size and resources of large companies usually make them relatively resilient to unexpected shocks.