The UK government’s recently announced intention to publish a draft Floods & Water Bill in Spring 2009 has been welcomed by the Business Continuity Institute (BCI). The draft bill follows the Pitt Report’s 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 today. 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.

http://www.thebci.org

•Date:12th Dec 2008• Region: UK •Type: Article •Topic: DR general
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