Business Continuity

Business Continuity requirements when Contracting to provide Services or Products to London Borough of Havering

One of the obligations that London Borough of Havering retains is to make sure that we are able to continue to serve the public - even in the event that a catastrophe strikes - either affecting us directly, or affecting one of our Suppliers, and therefore their ability to continue providing the service or product we rely on.

This responsibility is therefore shared with our suppliers in so far as:-

• we must be content that we can rely on our suppliers being able to continue to provide us with whatever service or product we buy - in the event they experience an emergency situation
• our suppliers, and those that we supply services to (including the General Public) need to be content that we will continue to be able to respond to their needs (including payment) in the event a catastrophic event causes a disruption to our business.

This co-dependency requires 'resilience' (known as Business Continuity), throughout the supply chain. Within London Borough of Havering we have processes, procedures and pre-determined Business Continuity Plans which will enable us to maintain provision of services in the event of catastrophe.

Our preparation includes the 'Major emergencies', the Corporate Business Continuity Plan and a number of further Plans dealing with the continued provision of individual services.

As part of our ongoing desire to improve resilience we will be increasing the importance attached to Business Continuity preparation within our Supply Chain. It is the intention that we will require all significant contracts to be supported by written, and practiced, Business Continuity Planning.

It is also our intention, and duty, to encourage smaller contracts to be similarly supported by appropriately prepared and practiced planning; we therefore require that all contractors supplying goods and services to London Borough of Havering will have appropriate Business Continuity Plans in place.In order to assist prospective suppliers with this process we have:-

• Developed a Survey for 'non-critical' suppliers to complete which will help us understand the current level of preparation – and provide access to advice for improving your resilience should you find this necessary. (link in progress - watch this space)
• Devised a simple questionnaire for major or 'critical' suppliers to complete to assist us in assessing their level of resilience. A number of the questions asked will require supporting evidence to be submitted and we reserve the right to request further evidence, (which may include a visit to your place of work should we deem it necessary,) to evaluate your preparations in detail. (link in progress - watch this space)

Should you require further information concerning Business Continuity generally you will find much information, and contact numbers by looking at Emergency Planning