Agenda item

To receive a report from the Head of Information Management providing an update on progress made in planning for Corporate Business Continuity.

(Councillor J D Ablewhite, Executive Leader, was in attendance for this item).

With the assistance of a report by the Head of Information Management (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Panel received an update on the progress that had been made in reviewing the Council’s corporate business continuity arrangements. By way of introduction, the Executive Leader explained that a Business Continuity Plan was being developed to replace the Council’s former Service Recovery Plan. Good progress had been made, but this had not yet been completed.

The Head of Information Management outlined the process which had been undertaken to develop and maintain the Business Continuity Plan for the Council. Detailed information was provided on the background to the need to change the existing processes, the specific work which had been undertaken, the issues and risks which had been identified and the resource requirements of the process. Having been advised of the next steps in the process, Members were provided with details of the incidents during the last 12 months which had triggered action by the Business Continuity Team.  It was intended to review the Plan on an annual basis, the outcome of which would be considered by the Corporate Governance Panel.

Councillor R B Howe drew attention to the current problems being experienced with the remote My Office system which was not allowing Members to obtain access to My Office and associated software. Comment having been made about the action which was being taken to communicate with those councillors about the problem and the length of the down-time, Members were informed that the ICT Support Officer was making efforts to contact affected individuals and, where appropriate, Council emails would be redirected to their personal email accounts. As the problem was a result of a major hardware failure it was not possible to resolve it immediately. The Head of IMD explained that in future, the Council would broadcast MMS messages to affected individuals. Work was ongoing with Democratic Services to establish a contact list for elected Members for this purpose.

In considering the contents of the report, Members enquired what action would be undertaken to test the Plans and were informed that because of the associated costs involved, this may well be undertaken on a bi-annual basis in conjunction with the Council’s Emergency Plan. In terms of the resourcing requirements of the Business Continuity Plan, the Panel noted that it had been allocated 0.7 Full Time Equivalents in Officer time. A Member suggested that in the absence of the Head of Information Management and the Head of Environmental Management, a Managing Director should nominate a Head of Service to take the corporate lead on behalf of the Strategic Management Group should the Plan need to be implemented.

In concluding the discussion, the Executive Leader reminded the Panel that the District Council’s Emergency Planning Arrangements were considered to be exemplary and that it was important to give due and appropriate consideration to the Council’s arrangements for business continuity.