Local authorities must have adequate measures in place to maintain essential services and subsequently recover from the effects of significant disruption to normal working.  This process of increasing the organisation’s resilience is known as Business Continuity Management (BCM). 

Business Continuity Management is a management led process that helps identify and prepare for potential disruptions to the smooth running of the organisation. The short-term objective of Business Continuity Management is to ensure that during disruption at least critical services may continue uninterrupted. 

The longer-term objective of Business Continuity Management is to ensure that the organisation can prevent, as well as possible, disruptions from occurring and in the event that they do, resume normal services as quickly as possible in the aftermath of any disruption/ emergency event.

Sharing and co-operating with all other agencies

It is required that a multi-agency body is established in every County to co-ordinate emergency management. This County’s group is known as the Lincolnshire Resilience Forum and is chaired by the Police Chief Constable. The Forum consists of representatives from Local Government, Emergency Services, Environment Agency, Health agencies, Voluntary Organisations, Public Utilities and Transport. The group meet regularly and share information between one another on all elements of the civil contingencies act and emergency preparedness.

Business Continuity Promotion

Local authorities have an extra duty within the act to promote business continuity to small and medium businesses throughout the county.

For further information on business continuity and how you can use it to protect your business please visi the Lincolnshire County Council: www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/businesscontinuity

More information on the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 can be found here.