Business continuity

As part of our wider risk management process, effective business continuity planning ensures that the interests of customers, employees and other stakeholders are protected by minimising the risk of disruption to critical business operations caused by unplanned events. Business continuity management continues to ensure that the risks of such incidents are reduced through appropriate resilience measures and, should the worst happen, that we have procedures in place to minimise unwanted impacts and to direct our response.

During 2007, CFS' Business Continuity Policy was revised in line with best practice and organisational changes. The Executive approved an extended pool of senior managers to join the CFS Crisis Management Team. Members attended training sessions culminating in the team undertaking a scenario exercise to test our preparedness in the event of a major operational disruption. The Incident Response teams located at the major occupancies were also tested and continued to show an improvement in their capability. A revised Business Impact Analysis - the method to confirm CFS’ key processes during a major incident and their related systems - was completed by the business.

In 2008 the data collated from the Business Impact Analysis will be used to ensure our capacity requirements are met. A working group of cross-CFS business areas are reviewing our Pandemic Influenza contingency plans. Building on the scenario exercises in 2007 Incident Response teams and the Crisis Management Team will undertake more stretching exercises and we will continue to assess our plans and arrangements against industry best practice.