Ensuring business as usual Ministry of Public Administration hosts workshop on Business Continuity Management

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

28 July, 2014

 

Ensuring business as usual Ministry of Public Administration hosts workshop on Business Continuity Management

 

Public service organisations have begun to look at ways of ensuring that its goods and services are made available to the citizenry under the worst and most trying circumstances, especially in the aftermath of extreme events. The need for ministries and departments to continue to provide business as usual in unusual circumstances was the main point of discussion when the Ministry of Public Administration (MPA) hosted the first of three workshops “Establishment of a Business Continuity Management Capacity in the Public Service” at the Hilton Trinidad Hotel on July 25, 2014.

The workshop was a key activity of a project that is in progress to guide ministries and departments in the development of comprehensive plans which will lay out a framework for business continuity in the aftermath of localized or national scale incidents. The importance of Business Continuity Management, the results of a BCM Diagnostic Review of pilot Ministries, and governance mechanisms for oversight of BCM in the public service were shared with participants. Group discussions focussed on the issues and challenges of planning for and developing such a capability in the public service.

Among those invited to participate in the workshop were BCM Steering Committee members and counterpart team members from each of the pilot Ministries - the Ministry of Finance and the Economy, Ministry of Trade, Industry, Investments and Communications, Ministry of the People and Social Development, and the Ministry of Education. Human Resource, Information Technology, Facilities and Communications representatives from the remaining Ministries were also invited. The entire session was facilitated by consultants PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

“Today is an essential first step to implementation. All of us must be on the same wavelength while, at the same time, seeing how we can improve the readiness and business continuity processes in our Ministries and Departments” said Ms. Gillian Macintyre, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Public Administration in her address to the participants. She added, “It is clear that we must all work together as a team if we are to move forward to achieve any success with BCM. We believe that as we interact with one another, we will see the evolution of an extremely supportive, teambased environment that will have the synergy, the energy, the dedication and commitment that we need to ensure that when the next disaster strikes, the public service and all the institutions it manages, will be ready, willing and able to provide stability, comfort and, most of all, hope.”

According to the British Standard Institute, Business Continuity Management (BCM) is the management process that identifies potential impacts that threaten an organization and provides a framework for building resilience and the capability for an effective response which safeguards the interests of its key stakeholders, reputation, brand and value creating activities.

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For further information, please contact

Rae Ann Harper-Walters Head, Corporate Communications Division,

625-8059, 688-2068 or email: harper-waltersr@mpa.gov.tt