Revisit disaster plans, councils warned

Councils are missing chances to establish up-to-date disaster recovery plans for their IT services.

Local government user group Socitm has warned its research from recent disasters that have impacted local authority IT services raises "serious concerns" as to whether councils understand the expectations of the Civil Contingencies Act and are sufficiently prepared to cope with threats to business continuity.

The research focuses on six case studies from local authorities that have experienced major disasters, from an arson attack to major flooding and the Buncefield oil storage depot explosion.

It said the quality of the response to a disaster owes everything to the quality of the preparation. "Although every case is different, people need to know what to do, not to ask someone else," it warned.

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The research also found that when things go wrong, other problems crop up to make things worse - for example it might be difficult to contact key personnel because mobile phone numbers weren't known or the IT disaster recovery plans hadn't been updated with information about a new contact centre which had just opened.

Socitm warned: "An organisation needs to ensure that any business continuity plan covers such possibilities to result in a positive outcome."

Socitm Insight programme manager Martin Greenwood said that local authority services could be "heavily jeopardised" following the aftermath of a disaster due to the increasing reliance on IT.

And he warned: "It is not easy to share information on business continuity after a disaster strikes."