Case Studies

Parliament business as usual

by Mark Rowe

The Houses of Parliament have gained certification to ISO 22301, the Business Continuity Management (BCM) system standard from BSI, the London-based business standards company.

By bringing in ISO 22301 as a best practice framework the parliament building sought to better identify and manage threats and to minimise impact of incidents. If an unforeseen incident occurred, the two houses needed to be resilient enough to respond, to protect staff, environment and the services it provides; minimise disruption to parliament’s business and recover and return to normality as quickly as possible.

As a UN World Heritage site and icon of national identity, the organisation had to consider the traditions and rules of procedure that provide the basis for ‘business as usual’ activities and the dual nature of Parliament and its decision making processes.

Martin Fenlon, the Business Resilience Coordinator for the Houses of Parliament said: “We have a responsibility to ensure Parliament can sit and be seen to be sitting as and when required. In order to deliver this we needed to develop a Business Continuity Management capability. As a confident, competent organisation we wanted to follow industry best practice, which is why we pursued certification to ISO 22301. During the assessment process we worked with BSI to identify opportunities for improvement as well as affirming areas of good practice. The building blocks are now in place for an effective BCM system; however the next step is to embed our business resilience arrangements in a changing business environment.”

Lorna Anderson, Global Technical Manager at BSI added: “An effective Business Continuity Management system can go much further than a plan for delivering ‘business as usual’. It is about building a secure foundation to enable a business to adapt quickly and change in line with the market – protecting current operations but also building a platform for future growth. Our clients tell us that by putting effective BCM processes and structured, exercised continuity plans in place, they have increased capability and agility to respond to challenges and are not only more likely to survive but in many cases thrive. By gaining certification, the Houses of Parliament has demonstrated to the public and key stakeholders they take their responsibilities seriously and follow industry best practice. This is testament to the hard work that has gone into ensuring their critical services remain resilient.”

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