WHILE the work of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) often goes unheralded, events such as Hurricane Dean and the earthquake in Peru underline the important role that the FCO plays in assisting UK citizens abroad, in addition to its responsibility for running Britain’s international relations.

Keith Luck, director-general of finance at the FCO, helps to ensure that its 240 offices around the globe are always available to provide that service, a task that involves managing risk.

“Can the business continue to operate in the event of significant infrastructure damage? That includes denial of access to IT or buildings; disruption to use of your usual assets,” Luck says. “If there was no access to our main Whitehall HQ, for example, would support of the global FCO network be at risk? What if a post or embassy overseas couldn’t operate, for whatever reason – terrorist attack, or avian flu, for example?”

Effective risk management starts with the management board and extends throughout the organisation, he says. Management should lead employees by example in using risk reporting and management as part of the way it does business. The board is updated on key risks every month and there is a quarterly updating of operational and business risk.

Risk ownership also falls to the individual posts. “Each post has its own risk assessment and emergency plans,” he says. “If they are in the Caribbean, for example, it is likely that they will need to deal with problems during the hurricane season. What are their plans? Have they prepared? Are consular services ready to advise Britons abroad and assist those who find themselves in difficulties afterwards?”

Risk management and business continuity planning must be part of every manager’s role. “The general approach to how you manage risk, how you reduce it, mitigate it, eliminate it, decide what the risk appetite is, what are people prepared to live with... all of that is good management practice,” Luck says.

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