School Resilience
Project Overview
A series of workshops were held for all Manchester Schools to highlight the importance and benefits of Resilience Planning. At the workshops, participants receive simple Business Continuity Planning Templates and a guidance document to assist with the development of business continuity management, along with practical advice for completing the plan.
The workshops were aimed at providing Schools with an overview of the Business Continuity Planning recommended by Manchester City Council which should then be incorporated and adapted to the School environment. The workshops also aimed to gather examples of Schools' good practice & to collect FAQ's which will then be shared to further increase the expertise and skills for resilience planning.
The workshops were delivered from September to December 2010 with a Project review taking place during January / February 2011.
What is School Resilience?
'School Resilience' encompasses both Emergency Management and Business Continuity Management. Emergency Management and Business Continuity Management are closely related disciplines and share the same response management structures, but where almost all emergency responses require an element of business continuity to be considered, not all business continuity incidents pose an immediate threat to life or limb and therefore do not require a full emergency / incident management response.
Below are two brief definitions which may be useful in clarifying our understanding of the two disciplines:
Emergency Management - the ability to respond to an event or situation that threatens the welfare of members of the school community, serious damage to the school environment or the school's security
Business Continuity Management - the ability to respond to disruptive incidents and emergencies by maintaining the school's critical activities and returning to 'business as usual' as quickly as possible
What is Business Continuity Management?
Business continuity management is the process of planning for and responding to emergencies/critical incidents or other disruptions in order to continue the delivery of critical services at an acceptable level e.g. the need to ensure continuity of education in Schools. Whilst it may be difficult to reduce the likelihood of an external disruptive event occurring, it is possible to put plans in place to reduce or mitigate the impact of such an event. Whatever the cause of the disruption, the impacts usually fall into one or more of these categories:
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Loss or shortage of key staff or skills
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Loss or denial of access to premises
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Loss of technology or data
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Loss of key suppliers, partners or third parties
The approach recommended to Schools is an 'all hazards' approach to risk through the development of a range of continuity strategies to mitigate the main impacts of a disruptive event (as above) and described in the School Business Continuity Plan. This plan will be flexible enough to respond to any incident, regardless of its cause because of the focus on managing the impacts of an event, whilst providing a suitable framework to manage the School's response with clearly defined roles and responsibilities.
Schools have also been encouraged to focus on managing specific risks to continuity through the identification of appropriate risk controls in order to reduce/mitigate those risks and thus reduce the likelihood of a disruptive event occurring in the first place.
An effective Business Continuity Management programme has no 'end point', it is ongoing and cyclical. Schools have been encouraged to incorporate business continuity planning into their normal business planning activities to help embed a culture of resilience and to ensure plans are reviewed and updated regularly. The benefits of this ongoing process mean that business continuity arrangements are constantly refined and improved as your Business Continuity programme matures.
Further Information and Guidance
Please follow this link to download a short pdf guide for building School Resilience (including the recommended Business Continuity Plan template)
For further advice and guidance, please visit the following websites:
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Teachernet: www.teachernet.gov.uk/emergencies
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Department of Education School Emergencies Project: http://www.schoolemergencies.info/
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Direct Gov: http://www.direct.gov.uk/
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Business Continuity Institute: http://www.thebci.org/
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The Cabinet Office ( UK Resilience): www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ukresilience
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Continuity Central: http://www.continuitycentral.com/
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Manchester City Council website: www.manchester.gov.uk/businesscontinuity
Manchester Business Continuity Forum
The Manchester Business Continuity Forum was launched by Manchester City Council and its partners to develop, promote and drive forward Business Continuity Management in Manchester and beyond. It offers a variety of free events and activities which encourage and facilitate the sharing of knowledge and expertise throughout our diverse membership. For further details, please visit the webpage: www.manchester.gov.uk/MBCF.
If you would like your School to join the Manchester Business Continuity Forum or if you would like more information about the partnership initiative, please email your contact details to: business.continuity@manchester.gov.uk
