Communications About Resilience Enhancing Activities By English Local Authorities

Abstract

The Civil Contingencies Act (2004 Civil Contingencies Act. 2004. Contingency Planning Regulations 2005, London: The Stationery Office. No. 2042 Statutory Instruments Google Scholar]) in the United Kingdom introduced new responsibilities for public authorities regarding Business Continuity Management (BCM) and other emergency planning activities. Using content analysis techniques, this study examined thirty-four English county councils' websites to examine the extent to which this online medium communicated these new responsibilities to stakeholders. Using key-word-in-context (KWIC) and content clustering, this exploratory study found that local authorities' websites were far from generic in their web-based communications about their new Civil Contingencies Act responsibilities and BCM activities, and it reveals a number of differing website traits, motivations and orientations.