London’s small businesses are under-prepared to survive a major incident or emergency according to a new report by the London Assembly.
The report – ‘Prepared for the worst? Promoting business continuity to small businesses’ – published earlier this week raises concerns about the ability of small businesses to recover from serious disruption caused by flooding, terrorism or an major public health threat such as an influenza pandemic.
Richard Barnes AM, who led the investigation on behalf of the London Assembly, says: “Small businesses are the capital’s lifeblood, generating a turnover of almost £150 billion – a quarter of the total for London every year. Yet many are almost totally unprepared to deal with a major incident or emergency.”
The report’s key recommendations include pilot schemes for distributing business continuity information in an “engaging and practical format”, extending the City of London Corporation’s ‘buddy scheme’ and a call for the London Regional Resilience Forum to start discussions with major banks about disseminating information to their client.
Barnes says “Helping small businesses to prepare for the worst is a crucial part of London’s resilience planning and I therefore hope to see the recommendations in this report taken forward as a matter of urgency.”
The report can be downloaded from london.gov.uk/assembly/reports/
