This week many colleagues took part in Exercise Cyber Response 2026, which tested how we would continue to deliver critical services in the event of a significant cyber-attack and loss of our normal IT systems. The exercise focused on our arrangements for business continuity, communications and governance during a major disruption.
Exercises like this are invaluable because they remind us that resilience is everyone’s responsibility. Perhaps the most important lesson is the simplest one: the best cyber-attack is the one that never happens. Remaining vigilant, completing mandatory learning, being alert to suspicious emails and following good information security practices are all things that make a real difference.
The exercise also highlighted something that can feel slightly counterintuitive in an increasingly digital world. While we continue to build our digital capabilities and make greater use of technology, we also need to ensure that we can operate when technology is unavailable. Knowing where key information is held, maintaining up-to-date hard copies of critical contact details and procedures, and being able to work around systems outages remain important aspects of organisational resilience. In many ways, true resilience is about being able to operate confidently in both a digital and a non-digital environment.
This balance will become increasingly important in the years ahead. We need to continue developing our IT and digital skills, embracing new technologies and finding smarter ways of working, while also ensuring that we do not become wholly dependent on it. The exercise was a useful reminder that resilience and digital transformation go hand in hand.
This week also marks the start of the school summer holidays. I would like to thank everyone across Education and partner services for the work they have done to support our children and young people throughout the academic year. While schools may have closed for the summer, many Council services continue without pause. Our care staff, roads teams, waste services, emergency response arrangements, harbour operations and many others will continue supporting communities every day throughout the holiday period.
For many colleagues, the school holidays also bring a different kind of challenge as families juggle work commitments and childcare arrangements. I know that can sometimes be difficult and I would like to thank colleagues for the flexibility, understanding and support they show one another during this period. As always, taking a team approach helps us balance the needs of our communities with our responsibilities to those closest to us.
I will be on leave for the next two weeks hoping for a change in the weather! Whether you are taking some well-deserved annual leave over the coming weeks or continuing to deliver services across the area I hope you are able to enjoy the summer.
Best wishes,
Pippa
Pippa Milne
Chief Executive
