Pool Re Funds £10M Initiative to Help UK Businesses Improve Resilience to Terrorism
Pool Re, Britain’s terrorism reinsurer, is collaborating with UK government agencies to help businesses proactively protect against the risk of terrorism.
The £10 million ($13.1 million) project is being funded by Pool Re, led by the UK Counter-Terrorism Police, in partnership with the Home Office’s Joint Security and Resilience Centre.
Pool Re’s investment will fund a new interactive information sharing platform, aimed at helping improve business continuity and resilience in the event of a terrorist attack. The platform provides “an important channel for businesses who may lack the time, resources and expertise to understand the terrorist threat..,” said Pool Re in a statement.
The platform will enable firms and local authorities to:
- Improve risk awareness and risk mitigation against the persistent threat of terrorism,
- Access credible insights on risk mitigation and counter-terrorism best practice,
- Receive prompt messaging and authoritative advice in the event of a terrorist attack about essential actions – for example, whether they should go into lockdown and when might be safe to restart business operations,
- Develop their own counter-terrorism capacity through accredited online training for personnel,
- Be part of a well-resourced community of counter-terrorist police and other experts, as well as other businesses committed to improving their resilience.
“The platform will meet a longstanding need from the private sector for more credible, quality and timely information to be used in their protective security and resilience planning,” said Pool Re’s Chairman Geoff Riddell.
“This project is one of the first of its kind — a collaboration between the police, the insurance sector, and the government that will help to keep the country safe and secure,” commented Minister of State for Security Ben Wallace.
This ground-breaking platform “will allow businesses to access credible information 24/7, connect users to experts, provide accredited online training and send direct messages in the event of an attack – strengthening our frontline against the unprecedented threat,” said Deputy Assistant Commissioner Lucy D’Orsi, the national policing lead for protective security.
“By supporting this initiative, Pool Re will improve the engagement, collaboration and sharing of information between the private sector, policing and the security services – resulting in a better assessment of emerging threats and helping us to work together to keep the UK safer,” she continued.
Pool Re was set up in 1993 after the Irish Republican Army’s mainland U.K. bombing campaign prompted reinsurers to stop covering terrorism-related damage. Structured as a commercial reinsurer, Pool Re is a mutual whose members comprise the vast majority of insurers and Lloyd’s syndicates which offer commercial property insurance in Great Britain. Ceding terrorism risk to Pool Re affords member insurers a guarantee ensuring that they can provide cover for losses resulting from acts of terrorism, regardless of the scale of the claims.
Source: Pool Re and National Counter Terrorism Security Office
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