Public Sector and Government Resilience Advisor (Major Incidents) London, United Kingdom view t[...]

Job Purpose: Lead Practitioner for Business Continuity: Support the Executive Management Team (EMT) and Council Directors with business continuity planning. Collaborate across all departments including during incidents and disruptions, ensuring alignment with national and regional guidelines, standards, and best practices. Manage Implementation: Awareness and advise as appropriate on the Business Continuity Plans and Procedures across all Directorates in the Council, as well as Disaster Recovery operations. Minimise Impact: Take necessary actions to minimise and control the impact of major business disruptions on the Council. Communicate and Coordinate: Maintain the Council’s Business Continuity policy, plan, risk register, and impact analysis. Coordinate the Council’s business continuity planning programme in line with ISO22301 standards and provide advice to local businesses and voluntary organisations as per the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. Emergency Response: To act as the 24/7 on-call Resilience Advisor as part of an emergency rota and Tactical Local Authority Liaison Officer (LALO) when coordinating the Council’s response from the incident scene in major and serious incidents in the Borough.

Description of Duties:

• Achieve compliance with ISO 22301 and the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 by communicating and coordinating comprehensive business continuity plans at all levels.
• Ensure the continual effectiveness and compliance of all business continuity plans for service areas, business functions, and IT applications, guaranteeing their effectiveness.
• Maintain uninterrupted service delivery during disruptive incidents by coordinating necessary activities and ensuring the Council's operational resilience.
• Provide advice on ways to enhance business continuity plans through collaboration with corporate, departmental, and service levels, mitigating disruption effects to ensure essential services for residents.
• Drive continuous improvement by conducting periodic reviews and tests of business continuity plans and procedures, reporting findings to management, and recommending enhancements.
• Provide the Executive Management Team (EMT) with analysis through annual reviews of the Corporate Business Continuity Strategy and periodic dashboard updates on business continuity activities across the Council.
• Ensure the Council’s Corporate Business Continuity Plan and Corporate Statement of Risk Appetite are up-to-date and integrated within the overall suite of contingency planning documents.
• Optimise organisational resilience by being a lead user of the Business Impact Analysis system, ensuring its effective use across departments and services.
• Strengthen the alignment between business continuity and corporate risk management by liaising closely with the Council’s Strategic Risk function.
• Support all council departments and services in producing, regularly reviewing, testing, and recommending amendments to Service Area Business Continuity Plans, ensuring their effectiveness and consistency with corporate resilience arrangements.
• Make recommendations for enhancements to business continuity plans and procedures across the Council through an annual training and exercise programme, involving external partners where appropriate.
• Empower departmental and service area staff by designing and delivering training sessions and exercises as part of the business continuity training and exercise programme.
• Maintain up-to-date service area plans by managing the administration of the Council business continuity system.
• Contribute to the corporate risk register by linking corporate and departmental/service risks to business continuity plans where appropriate.
• Ensure readiness for significant and major incidents by participating in the Resilience team rota, providing in-person coordination and support during emergencies.
• Act as Tactical LALO during major emergencies, coordinating and leading on the Council’s response and supporting efforts at the incident scene, engaging with the emergency services to make decisions on the Council’s behalf.
• Foster a collaborative and supportive environment by working with and supporting other staff members in the Resilience Team in emergency preparedness and incident response situations.
• Maintain accurate records, prepare agendas, and take minutes of relevant Resilience and emergency meetings.
• Attend various meetings to represent the Council or the team on emergency preparedness, response, and business continuity, and coordinate with internal departments and external organisations.
• Undertake additional duties as required, commensurate with your grade, to support the Council’s resilience and business continuity efforts.

Selection Criteria/Person Specification:

• Qualifications: Essential: Qualifications gained in Business Continuity Planning and/or training, or Certified Member of the Business Continuity Institute.
• Skills, Experience and Attitude: Essential: Knowledge of the contingency planning legislative requirements for local authorities brought about by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and an international standard for Business Continuity Management Systems (BCMS) ISO 22301. Experience of developing business continuity contingency plans and procedures. Experience of developing, planning, and delivering training and exercises on business continuity to a wide range of people, at all levels and externally to businesses and voluntary organisations. Ability to assimilate, evaluate and collate information on business continuity planning priorities and resources. Presenting recommendations in clear and concise reports to all levels of stakeholders. Ability to communicate effectively with colleagues, Councillors, residents and the general public, and coordinate work efficiently and effectively with service areas in numerous locations. Strong administrative and project management skills, with effectiveness in developing and managing tasks to achieve target dates. Ability to use IT equipment and packages (e.g. Microsoft Office and Outlook, Geographic Information System (GIS)). Ability to be responsive and be a leader in emergency response. Ability to remain calm under pressure when dealing with emergencies. Self-motivated and able to work on your own initiative with minimal supervision. Ability to work in and develop teams and partnerships in business continuity. Able to work outside normal office hours on occasions for training, meetings, when responding to emergencies as part of an emergency rota. Strong organisational and interpersonal skills with ability to react to changing priorities in calm and efficient manner. Strong analytical, organisational, decision-making and problem-solving skills. Understand the critical importance of equality, diversity, and inclusion in planning and responding to emergencies.