Scottish Borders Council leads the way in business continuity
Wednesday, November 26 2008
Scottish Borders Council (SBC) is the first local authority in the whole of the UK to achieve the new British Standard for business continuity management.
To achieve the Standard required, the Council had to prove that it has robust plans in place to continue its essential operations in the event of any eventuality from a minor incident to a major disaster.
Developed by a broad-based group of world-class experts representing a cross-section of industry sectors and the government – the Standard (BS 25999) is awarded by the British Standards Institution (BSI). The Council achieved this on 18 November following a rigorous four-day audit.
Alan Bowman, Head of Financial Administration at SBC, said: “It’s a real accolade for the Council to be the first in the UK to reach this Standard. Most importantly, it gives local people the assurance that Scottish Borders Council complies with business continuity management best practice – giving us the best chance of continuing to run our services effectively in the face of disruption.”
Alan and his team were presented with the certificate at last week’s full Council meeting. Convener Alasdair Hutton, who chairs the Audit Committee responsible for Risk Management said: “It is a shining testament to the hard work of the Team, and in particular that of Senior Risk Management Adviser Hugh Kinsella and his assistant Sue Redfearn, that Scottish Borders Council is the first council in the UK to gain this Standard. We provide essential services to people throughout the Borders so it’s essential that we have these plans in place to ensure that we have a tried and tested method of continuing to operate no matter what the outside world throws at us.”
Julian Thrussell, Product Marketing Manager for Business Continuity at BSI Management Systems, said: “Any organisation that can demonstrate an effective business continuity plan will have a competitive advantage over others, as well as the assurance of a continued operation in times of unexpected disruption”
“BS 25999 is a framework for resilience and business success. The professionalism shown by Scottish Borders Council in protecting their customers and their business does them credit, and proves they are able to prevent incidents and respond appropriately when necessary.”
Lisa Dargan, Business Development Director at Ultima Risk Management (supplier of ‘Abriska’ BS 25999 risk assessment software) adds “ This was by no means an insignificant achievement by SBC. The scale of the project was considerable and involved conducting risk assessments over 200 sites and reporting on over 4000 risks. SBC should be commended for their achievement and have now set the target for other local authorities in the UK.”
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