Research conducted by the British Standards Institution reveals the scale of the modern slavery issue facing UK businesses. Its 'Human Trafficking and Supply Chain Slavery Patterns Index’ suggests UK businesses are at particularly high risk of modern slavery. Russia, Slovakia, India and Pakistan, according to the Index, are all ‘severe risk’ source countries. Of the G7 nations, Italy is identified as a ‘high risk’ nation – partly due to the conflict in Syria. Greece and Turkey are additionally categorised as ‘high risk’ countries.

It is just over 12 months since Storm Desmond wrought havoc in many parts of the UK; an event that, according to the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, ranked alongside the devastating flooding of March 1947 as the largest event of at least the last century. In responding to major emergencies like flooding, emergency services and local authorities play a crucial part in managing the immediate aftermath, supporting local people and businesses as well as restoring the public realm. Those organisations are well versed in having emergency plans for such circumstances and regularly test aspects of these plans to ensure they are robust. They are also under a duty to ensure that they have plans in place to respond to events that may affect their own services during an emergency.

AXA has announced a partnership with resource management advisor, SUEZ aimed at improving resilience of cities and territories against flood risks. The new joint offering, available globally, will provide communities and industries with analysis of vulnerability to any form of flooding (flash flood, marine submersion, rising groundwater level, rupture of hydraulic structures, overflowing); solutions to reduce vulnerability for locations and territories through business continuity plans, education and prevention; and tools for awareness and assistance in crisis management (alert tools, material and human means, and so on).

An ambitious £3.5m hardware upgrade is being rolled out to business continuity customers of converged IT and communications provider Daisy Group. The major investment will equip all of its 13 nationwide work area recovery sites with 6,000 latest desktop computers from global hardware provider Hewlett Packard.

The Met Office has warned of plummeting temperatures this week, with snowy conditions expected across the UK, bringing the issue of business resilience to the fore. Is your business prepared?

Political risk, cyber security, bribery and oil price and financial markets fluctuations are among chief concerns for businesses voiced by some of the UK’s leading risk experts as they look ahead to 2017.

James McAlister has formally taken over as chairman of the Business Continuity Institute, replacing David James-Brown whose two year term in office has come to an end. A former police officer with over 30 years of experience in business continuity, civil protection, emergency planning, security, firearms, public order and training, McAlister has advised and contributed to many operations and exercises throughout the UK and internationally including political party conferences, major sporting events,

A report by commercial insurer RSA has found that Brexit is not perceived as a risk by the majority of SMEs, with 70 per cent stating that leaving the EU will either have no impact at all (43 per cent) or will have a positive effect on their business (27 per cent). However, SMEs identified a range of more significant threats which many companies are not sufficiently protected against.

The 19th Annual Business Continuity Awards - Celebrating achievements in business continuity, security and resilience, are open for entries. The annual Business Continuity Awards is the most anticipated event in the business continuity calendar and provides unrivalled networking, alongside a night of entertainment and celebration.

A disconnect exists between business continuity professionals and end users when it comes to workplace recovery, according to a report carried out by the Business Continuity Institute. The global study showed that, while only 12% of business continuity experts confirm their organisation lacks a workplace recovery arrangement, 31% of end users claimed their employers don’t have any arrangements in place, or they are unaware of what they are.

One in three organisations has experienced cumulative losses of over €1 million during the last year as a result of supply chain disruption. This is according to a report published today by the Business Continuity Institute. Despite a decrease in the percentage of organisations that experienced at least one disruption (70% from 74%), those organisations suffered more of them, with the percentage of organisations that experienced at least eleven disruptions during the year increasing from 7% to 22%.

Crises Control has been listed on the latest government G-Cloud 8 framework. The G-Cloud 8 Service is operated from two distinct environments to provide government and public sector customers with choice and price flexibility, dependent upon their information assurance requirements.

Communication issues have for the first time been named as the top cause of UK invocations in the UK in Sungard Availability Services’ annual Availability Trends report. Overall, the number of downtime incidents – in which staff were unable to work from their usual office or access business critical systems – remained largely the same, with only a five per cent decrease compared to 2014’s figures.

Research carried out into the causes of, and responses to, the persistent threat of cyber attack has found some worrying trends in how companies respond to such incidents, including how quickly -- or more to the point slowly -- they take action after an incident has occurred. The Business Continuity Institute’s research is based on a survey of 369 business continuity professionals from across the globe.

Congratulations to all of this year's Business Continuity Awards winners. If you didn't make it to the Marriott on Grosvenor Square to join the celebrations, found out who won here... Hosted by comedian Ed Byrne, the 18th annual Business Continuity Awards...