The Civil Contingencies Act & its Implications for

Emergency Planning,A Practitioners View

Ian HoultCounty Emergency Planning

Officer

Me? A practitioner?

Don’t be cynical & get on with it!

Presentation Outline

• Brief History• Why the Act• The Requirements of the Act• What’s in place already• The Challenges Ahead• Conclusion

Brief History

• Civil Defence Act 1948 (& subsequent amendments)

• End of the Cold War• Lockerbie, Clapham, Kegworth,

Hilsborough, Herald of Free Enterprise etc etc

• 1993 Regs• Decemeber 3rd 2000 Prescott orders

Review• Then…..

Why The CC Act?

• EP throughout the Country is “patchy”• No sound foundations• Many examples of good practice but

no consistency• Poor relationship between local and

central government responding departments

• Insufficient Funding

The Act

• 2 parts:– Part One about emergencies and the

local response– Part Two amends the 1920s

emergency powers acts

– This presentation only relates to part 1.

Background to the Act

• Act describes organisations as either category 1 or 2 responders (or ignores them)

• Category 1 responders:• Police, Fire, Ambulance, Local

Authorities (all types and tiers), Health, Coastguard, Environment Agency.

Background to the Act

• Category 2 Responders:– Utilities (gas, water, electricity,

telecomms), Railway operators, airports, harbour authorities, HSE, Highways Agency.

Cat 1 responders must liase with each cat 2 in the same police force area at least twice a year

Background to the Act

• The Ignored:– Voluntary Agencies– Government Departments– Central Government generally except

Regional Offices– Airline companies– Various other ancilliary support

agencies

Background to the Act

• The Act is “enabling legislation”• The detail is (or will be) in the

Regulations and Guidance– Beware the word “Guidance”

– “Statutory Guidance” Oxymoron?

Requirements of the Act

• Duty to assess, plan and advise:– Formal Risk Assessment Process– Plan for those events or sites which

require a plan as identified by RA, or other legislation or under direction by the Minister

– Publish the plans and warn inform and advise the public

Risk Assessment

• Volcano Planning• Formalised Process “Statutory

Guidance”• Will we only plan for the

foreseeable?

Requirements of the Act

• Business Continuity Planning– The requirement upon Local

Authorities is threefold:• Do it yourself - i.e. have a BCP• Promote the concept to all businesses in

your area• Provide those businesses that ask with a

BCP service at cost

What’s in place already (in Hampshire)

• It is generally agreed that Emergency Planning in Hampshire is in pretty good shape and in the main the CCA serves to ratify our current arrangements

• Liaison and co-operation particularly are long established and sound

So…. The Challenges

• Formalise the Group Structure and reporting chains

• Risk Assessment• Business Continuity Planning• Warning and Advising the Public

The Challenges

• New duty on District Authorities– Previous legislation only applied to

1st tier authorities, Districts had only one duty – to provide the County with people to train in emergency response.

The Challenges

• Funding (& money generally)– Good news – the CSR announcement July

04 doubled the amount of money LA’s will receive for EP (£19.1M to £40.5M)

– Bad news – not ring fenced, but going into RSG (EPCS block)

– For Provision of Service County will charge Districts – but a subsidised service

The Challenges

• Checks and Balances– Audit Commission, Self Assessment

Tool– CPA, key line of questioning– Regional Government feedback– District Audit– Etc..

Conclusion

• We welcome the Act ( with certain caveats and the odd misgiving)

• Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it

• Ancient Chinese Curse – May you live in interesting times!

The best thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete

surprise and is not preceded by a period of worry and depression

Sir John Harvey-Jones

Any Questions?