PRESS RELEASE

8th December 2008

BCI welcomes Draft Flood Bill but Greater Resiliency must be a Focus

The Government’s recently announced intention to publish a draft Floods & Water Bill in Spring 2009 is welcomed by the Business Continuity Institute (BCI). The draft Bill follows the Pitt Report’s damning analysis of the causes and consequences of the major flood disruptions in Summer 2007. The BCI, however, wants to see more emphasis on building local resiliency in the face of such events to help local businesses and communities recover faster.

Lyndon Bird FBCI, Technical Director of the BCI, commented:

"The recommendations from the Pitt Report into the Summer ‘07 floods are clear and we hope the Government will use its legislative and financial power to mitigate the impact of future floods1.

"Only through careful planning and open communication between agencies, local government, business and communities can we develop a resiliency to deal with flooding.

"The economic and social impact of these events is high.

"It is likely that localised flooding will continue, so we need to deal with its effects and minimize the impact on business and communities today2. The government has indicated the way forward with the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 where local government was mandated to promote business continuity in an attempt to improve local resiliency. This has, however, not been consistently understood or implemented."

The BCI would like to see the following Pitt Report recommendations prioritised:

RECOMMENDATION 13: Local authorities, in discharging their responsibilities under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 to promote business continuity, should encourage the take-up of property flood resistance and resilience by businesses.

RECOMMENDATION 49: A national flooding exercise should take place at the earliest opportunity in order to test the new arrangements which central government departments are putting into place to deal with flooding and infrastructure emergencies.

RECOMMENDATION 52: In the short term, the Government and infrastructure operators should work together to build a level of resilience into critical infrastructure assets that ensures continuity during a worst-case flood event.

RECOMMENDATION 53: A specific duty should be placed on economic regulators to build resilience in the critical infrastructure.

RECOMMENDATION 54: The Government should extend the duty to undertake business continuity planning to infrastructure operating Category 2 responders to a standard equivalent to BS25999, and that accountability is ensured through an annual benchmarking exercise within each sector.

Ends

Notes

1. The Pitt report described the floods as causing the largest loss of essential services since World War 2. The floods cost 13 lives, 55,000 properties were flooded and insurance payouts totalled some £3billion.

2. The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, quoted in the Pitt Report, stated that “Adaptation is the only response available for the impacts that will occur over the next several decades before mitigation measures can have an effect”.

About the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) Partnership

The BCI Partnership is the corporate division of the Business Continuity Institute, with over 70 members including the founders SunGard, BT, Marsh, ICM Continuity Services, Continuity Shop, Milton Keynes Council and the British Standards Institute. The partnership exists to raise awareness of Business Continuity Management (BCM) as a discipline and to encourage good practice in the operation of BCM. Core activities include running industry workshops; organizing Business Continuity Awareness Week (23rd to 27th March 2009); commissioning research to gain an insight into awareness of the discipline and how it is delivered within organisations; lobbying and campaigning to increase resilience through BCM within the business community; and promoting the importance of using certified professionals when engaging in business continuity management.

About Business Continuity Institute (BCI)

Based in Caversham, United Kingdom, The Business Continuity Institute (BCI) was established in 1994 to “promote the art and science of business continuity management” to assist organisations in preparing for and surviving minor and large-scale man-made and natural disasters. The Institute enables members to obtain guidance and support from their fellow practitioners, as well as offers professional training and certification programmes to disseminate and validate the highest standards of competence and ethics. It has more than 4,500 members worldwide in more than 85 countries. For more information, visit http://www.thebci.org.

Contact:

Lee Glendon
Campaigns Manager
Business Continuity Institute
+44 (0)7800 552240
lee.glendon@thebci.org

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