To outline progress made on updating Business Continuity Plans.
Contact:A Dobbyne 688100
Minutes:
Further to Minute No. 8 of the meeting held on 16 June 2016 and by way of a report by the Corporate Team Manager (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Committee received an update on progress made regarding revisions to Business Continuity Planning processes at Huntingdonshire District Council.
It was explained that a new template was currently in draft form and followed a recently issued template from the Government. Currently there were a number of Business Continuity Plans and it was intended to reduce this to one organisational Plan to include a set of generic actions to mitigate hazards/risks that applied in most cases to all Services. In addition there was to be an additional Plan for Customer Services as there were some specific actions best supported by their own unique Plan, which would also assist with maintaining the organisational Plan to a manageable size.
There had been a revision to the roles and responsibilities contained within the Plan and in most cases the approach was to now specify job roles rather than Officer names, as included in the previous Plan. This prevented the Plan from becoming outdated as quickly and encouraged a more flexible approach to managing business continuity, where the role signposted where to seek support in the event that the post holder was not available, as other Officers could assist.
It was further explained that Internal Audit had been due to conduct an audit on business continuity which was postponed to allow for the review of business continuity arrangements to be completed. The audit would be conducted by the end of the financial year and would take the form of a series of tests to check many of the assumptions within the Plan.
The Committee concurred that the planned approach of one organisational Plan with an additional Plan for Customer Services was preferable as was the approach to simplify the document.
In response to a question it was explained that Internal Audit would undertake a test of the Plan in Quarter 4 with desktop and scenario planning in 2017/18, the outcomes of which would determine further testing if required. At the scenario planning stage it was requested that the Committee be informed, as it would be a useful to enable the Committee to understand what was required of the Council.
The current Business Continuity Plans contained an excessive number of priorities, which had been reduced in the forthcoming Plan for greater clarity and would enable Members to identify areas for challenge more easily. In response to a question it was explained that Senior Management Team had assessed those priorities which were to be removed, as well as suggestions of others for inclusion. The Committee were assured that the priorities contained within the current Plan would be retained separately and available to view in the future if requested.
There had been little control over any returns or removal of the Plans from those Offices who had left the organisation or changed roles over the past two years. Having noted that the Council would attempt to retrieve the current Plans no longer required, it was explained that this also included those currently retained by Members.
Having been informed that there were some areas within the Plan that still required input from Officers, it was noted that the Plan would need to incorporate 3C Shared Services and devolution. It was suggested that if Officers were not responding to requests for input into the Business Continuity Planning process then assumptions should be included as it was important for the Plan to be established.
At 7.35pm, Cllr Gray, Executive Councillor for Strategic Resources entered the meeting.
In response to a question it was explained that once Internal Audit had tested the Plan and desktop and scenario planning undertaken, the Plan would be revised during April/May 2017/18.
In concluding the discussion, the Committee requested that an update report be presented to the Corporate Governance Committee meeting in March 2017. Whereupon, the Committee
RESOLVED
i. to note the report that indicated the progress made in revising the Business Continuity Plans; and
ii. that an update report be presented to the Corporate Governance Committee meeting in March 2017.
Supporting documents: