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FLOOD policy update

02 February 2009

There has been a lot in the BCM news about flooding in recent years. We take a look at the responses from local and national government in the UK. Is a consistent response emerging?

Prompted by the 2007 floods in UK, the Government asked Sir Michael Pitt to undertake a thorough and independent review. In June 2008 his report was published (see The Pitt Review: Lessons learned from the 2007 floods). The report made over 90 recommendations for government action, including the adoption of (at least) BS 25999 to improve local resilience.

The BCM professionals' response

The BCM community (led by the BCI and Continuity Forum) generally agreed with the report. In fact many of their recommendations made it through into the final 92. They did however feel that there should have been more emphasis placed on local resiliency to help local business and communities recover faster. This needs to be backed up with careful planning and open communication, as the Civil Contingencies Act has not always been consistently understood or implemented. Overall though, it was pleasing that the Pitt Report formally recommended that Business Continuity Plans should be to a standard equivalent to BS 25999, with annual benchmarking to ensure accountability.

The Government response

The response from Hilary Benn, Environment Secretary, was resoundingly positive. All 92 recommendations were accepted and over £3billion has been allocated over the next 3 years to address the report's key themes.

In July 2008, the Government produced a document entitled Towards a New National Flood Emergency Framework [PDF] as part of a major programme to improve preparedness for severe flooding. This document was put out for public consultation. Responses are currently being considered and a fuller framework is due out later this year.

The Environment Agency clearly believes that adopting BS 25999 is essential for Category 1 and particularly Category 2 responders. The depth of planning and capability from using BS 25999 is of particular importance. However, Business Continuity and Emergency plans must be in place, be connected and robustly tested. The Environment Agency is also considering additional investment for longer term implementation as part of the next comprehensive spending review and that any new burdens for local authorities are funded.

The message then is clear: if you are located in any of the areas prone to flooding you should be using BS 25999 to firm up your resilience.

We'd like to hear from any firm that has used BS 25999 as the basis of their flood plan. Email us or post a message on the Forum.

We look forward to the next set of policy measures and will keep you posted.

Photo credit: Paul Glendell/Natural England
Photograph: Copyright Natural England