It was a big night for CMAC at the Business Continuity Awards... They will be filling the trophy cabinet after a raft of wins at the industry's main event. Find out who took away the coveted gongs from the Mayfair Gala Dinner last night, hosted by the fabulous Sindhu Vee....

A new standard has been launched, designed to help cities protect critical resources and create and sustain opportunities for enterprise. Developed by BSI with the support of the World Bank, UNISDR, UN Habitat, OECD and representatives from UK cities, it is hoped the standard will contribute to the preservation of cities in the face of rapid urban expansion, climate change and disruptive events, such as pandemics.

Online shopping fulfilment provider Ocado has warned staff that they may face redundancy following the fire at its warehouse operations in Andover, Hampshire in February. The £45m high-tech distribution facility suffered an extensive fire that burned for four days, which investigators believe was caused by a faulty battery charging unit.

The National Counter Terrorism Security Office has announced the availability its ACT Strategic initiative, created to help businesses explore ways of preventing, managing and recovering from a terrorist attack. ACT Strategic is aimed at those responsible for writing policies and procedures or strongly influencing them. The events themselves are aimed at 20-30 delegates from a range of organisations and business sectors. Conducted as a discussion-based exercise, delegates will be faced with a series of questions and dilemmas to resolve, both individually and collectively.

An increase in migrant stowaways and labour exploitation are among the current key challenges threatening global supply chains, according to a BSI report published today. Read on for more on the top five supply chain risks for 2019, as well as a list of the key threats from 2018...

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) have agreed two Memoranda of Understanding to ensure continuity once the UK leaves the European Union. Covering trade repositories and alternative investment funds, the two agreements will ensure cross-border cooperation between the two organisations to provide certainty to businesses post-Brexit.

The 2019 Business Continuity Awards finalists have been announced. Now in its 21st year, the Business Continuity Awards recognise those business continuity, security, resilience and risk professionals whose innovative strategies and industry savvy make them stand out above the rest.

By customising an active shooter plan that focuses on prevention, training, feedback and post-incident protocols, employees will be mentally and physically prepared to react to violent threats, according to RIMS new report.

The Department for International Trade has issued an update on trade continuity after Brexit. Nearly half of the UK's trade is currently with the EU; a further 11% is covered by the existing EU trade agreements the government is looking to continue as bilateral deals after Brexit. The 20 smallest of these agreements account for just 0.8% of UK trade. The remaining 40% of trade takes place with other countries.

ISO has released the official ISO 22301 Draft International Standard for Public Comment (DIS). BSI, as the UK’s National Standards Body, is seeking to consult with continuity and resilience practitioners, managers, and other interested parties to participate in this review aimed at improving this standard.

The Financial Conduct Authority has today set out how it will use temporary transitional power in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Intended to minimise disruption for firms and other regulated entities, the Treasury has put forward draft legislation that would make transitional provisions if the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

The insurance sectors of the UK and Switzerland are set to continue trading freely with one another after the UK has left the EU. The new arrangement will replicate the effects of the existing EU agreement with Switzerland and will come into force when the current EU-Swiss Direct Insurance Agreement ceases to apply to the UK.

A growing number of local authorities are reportedly struggling to ‘balance the books’. Austerity has been with local government for eight years. Many council officers have identified that this point has been arrived at by a gradual process that has chipped away at the essence of local authorities – the services they deliver and the structures they use to do so. The accumulative effect, built up over years of budget cuts, adds to the anticipation around setting a sustainable budget. That becomes an ever more challenging prospect to finance managers, with higher risk levels and an increasing need to support the resilience of public authorities.

There are just a few weeks remaining to enter this year's Business Continuity Awards. Celebrating achievement in business continuity, security and resilience, the Business Continuity Awards are the most anticipated event in the industry calendar and provides unrivalled networking, alongside a night of entertainment and celebration.

Business sentiment around the ongoing Brexit talks is somewhat frayed after the government lost last night's vote in Parliament on its proposed deal. Even if yesterday’s deal had been passed, our future relationship with the EU would still be unclear, and as it is, businesses are left with even more questions than they had before.