Business Continuity & Risk Group (BCRG) Terms of Reference
Purpose
As a sub-Group of Executive Board, the Business Continuity and Risk Group will ensure effective and transparent risk management, business continuity and resilience across the University.
The Group will bring together information that will allow Executive Board to manage risk and resilience effectively. There may be information shared at this Group that is also be presented to and discussed at other University Groups (e.g. FMBSG (Financial Monitoring and Budget Scrutiny Group), University Health & Safety Group, Technology Portfolio Board, Cyber Security Group). This Group will allow cross discipline review and discussion of this information.
Composition – (to be finalised following first meeting)
Chair – Registrar
Business Resilience Manager
Risk Manager
Head of Internal Audit
Deputy Director of Finance – Financial Control
Director of Technology Operations
Chief Information Security Officer
Head of Strategic Projects and Change
Academic Registrar
Director of Estates & Facilities
Head of Security
Head of Occupational Health & Safety Services
Director of Communications
Head of Information Governance & Data Protection
Students Union Director of Commercial
Insurance Manager
Fire Safety Adviser
Faculty & Academic Representation
In attendance:
Other nominees as required
Secretariat:
Barbs Wilson
Attendance
Members should attend all meetings; deputies may be nominated when members are not available.
Meetings
Four online or in person meetings will take place with additional meetings as required.
Agenda, Papers & Minutes
The agenda and supporting papers will be sent out at least 5 working days in advance of the meetings.
Minutes and action log will be recorded and submitted for approval at the next meeting. The draft minutes will be agreed by the Chair of the Group.
Remit
The Group, chaired by the Registrar is an advisory Group that will review and discuss risk, resilience, and any other related matters. The Group will escalate any concerns regarding trends in risk that may then be reflected in the strategic risk register and upward to Executive Board.
The Group will:
- Review a set of agreed metrics and agree action to be taken when necessary (See spreadsheet below);
- Discuss, challenge and share experience and best practice on faculty/hub level risks;
- Identify risks across Faculties and Hubs highlighting individual risk events where significant or concerning trends in risk events;
- Monitor compliance with existing legislation and regulations (OfS (Office for Students), Ofstead, CMA (Competition and Markets Authority), Home Office etc);
- Highlight new or amended policy, legislation, regulations, sector wide issues or other external factors that may have risk implications for the University;
- Highlight new or amended internal policy that may have risk implications for the wider University;
- Support and share risk management best practice for further dissemination across Faculties and Hubs;
- Ensure that a robust business continuity management system is implemented, maintained, monitored and reviewed to ensure its effectiveness at mitigating/controlling and managing threats;
- Review the Major Incident Plan to ensure currency and continuous improvement;
- Monitor compliance with the Business Continuity Management System;
- Raise awareness and act as “champions” when it comes to university-level risk and resilience.
Member Responsibilities
Each Group member has a responsibility to:
- Provide scrutiny and challenge to all documents, policies and papers provided to the Group;
- Cascade information from the Group to their relevant areas and bring back to the Group any feedback or relevant information;
- Apply current thinking and subject matter expertise in relevant fields to risk or resilience topics;
- Provide critical analysis on cross cutting themes to develop when needed a set of mitigating action plans to be implemented;
- Foster a culture that promotes cooperation, compromise, collegiality, and collective ownership of risk.
Review
- The composition and remit of the Group to be reviewed on an annual basis.
Reviewed and agreed by EB & ARAC – November 2022
Date for next review December 2023