Marsh McLennan and National Preparedness Commission Recommend a Fresh Look at Public-Private Partnerships to Strengthen the UK’s Resilience to Shock Events

Nov 1, 2021

LONDON, 1 November 2021 — Today, Marsh McLennan (NYSE: MMC), the world’s leading professional services firm in the areas of risk, strategy, and people, launched Partnering with Purpose, a new report for the National Preparedness Commission, which examines the opportunities for stronger interactions between the public and private sectors to strengthen the UK’s ability to anticipate and respond to strategic risks and crises.

Concurrent predicaments such as sustained supply chain challenges, extreme weather, large-scale cyber-attacks, energy crises, and a still-evolving COVID-19 virus have exposed vulnerabilities in the UK’s resilience arrangements that could be addressed through increased coordination between business and government. 

“The private sector can, should, and is keen to contribute to increasing the UK’s resilience in many ways. Companies have much to offer by way of finance, physical assets, workforce, capabilities, and innovation.  But if we truly want to align commercial priorities with larger national imperatives, we need to refresh how we apportion responsibility for risks, how we regulate for resilience, and how we share data,” said Richard Smith Bingham, Executive Director, Marsh McLennan, and author of the report.

“The new national resilience strategy being prepared by government should stimulate and test new approaches that will position the UK well for the future,” says Lord Toby Harris, Chair, National Preparedness Commission.  “As identified in the report, government will need to play director, client, stimulator, facilitator, and cheerleader with business to fully realise a whole-of-society approach to resilience.”

Founded on extensive desk research and interviews with resilience experts in the UK and abroad, the report offers 18 ideas for achieving better alignment and traction on resilience with the private sector and positioning the country to withstand current and future shocks.  These ideas include: mandating stockpiles for critical goods, stronger cybersecurity mandates, new approaches to insuring catastrophic risks, greater analytical horsepower for critical risks, more extensive stress testing for critical national infrastructure, public-private sector crisis exercises, and private-sector code(s) of crisis conduct.

The full report is available here.

 

About Marsh McLennan

Marsh McLennan (NYSE: MMC) is the world’s leading professional services firm in the areas of risk, strategy and people. The Company’s more than 81,000 colleagues advise clients in 130 countries.  With annual revenue over $19 billion, Marsh McLennan helps clients navigate an increasingly dynamic and complex environment through four market-leading businesses. Marsh provides data-driven risk advisory services and insurance solutions to commercial and consumer clients. Guy Carpenter develops advanced risk, reinsurance and capital strategies that help clients grow profitably and pursue emerging opportunities. Mercer delivers advice and technology-driven solutions that help organizations redefine the world of work, reshape retirement and investment outcomes, and unlock health and wellbeing for a changing workforce. Oliver Wyman serves as a critical strategic, economic and brand advisor to private sector and governmental clients. For more information, visit marshmclennan.com, follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter or subscribe to BRINK.

 

About The National Preparedness Commission

The National Preparedness Commission seeks to promote better preparedness for a major crisis or incident. Its programme of work is intended to be both strategic and practical to encourage comprehensive actions so as to get away from merely “admiring the problem”.  Its 45 commissioners have extensive experience across public, private, and third sectors, and academia.