Major disruptive challenges over the past few years, such as flooding, the fuel crisis, the fire strikes and Foot and Mouth disease, highlighted the need for a regional overview of both planning and response throughout the country, and not just in London.
A regional resilience tier has now been introduced throughout the English regions with the aim of enhancing the co-ordination and communication between local responders – the Emergency Services, Local Authorities etc - and central Government. Government Offices play a key role in promoting and supporting this regional tier.
Regional Resilience Teams
Small teams led by a senior official are in place in each Government Office; many of these staff were recruited with specialist skills or with a background in civil protection planning. (In London the team is larger, with a significant number of secondees from a range of organisations.) They act as the key interface between central Government and local responders on resilience issues.
The teams provide:
-
secretariat support for the Regional Resilience Forums (RRFs)
-
planning for events where regional response arrangements could be called upon
-
administering the Regional Civil Contingencies Committees (RCCCs)
The teams will also work with the Devolved Administrations to ensure strong cross border arrangements are in place.
Regional Resilience Forums
Regional Resilience Forums have been formed to bring together key players within each region, such as local authorities, central government agencies, the armed forces, and the emergency services. Other organisations e.g. from the voluntary sector, utilities and transport operators can also be invited as necessary. The role of the Forums is to:
-
improve communication across and between the regions; between the regions and central government and between the region and its local responders. It is also there to support planning for a response capability on a region wide basis
-
provide multi-agency strategic direction to civil protection planning in each region. They also have a particular value to add in focusing on planning for wider consequences of incidents and the means for an effective return to normality
RRFs have been tasked with specific projects and they will work closely with existing local multi-agency emergency planning groups (which are known as Local Resilience Forums), to ensure that preparedness work is co-ordinated across the region. The building blocks of the response to a crisis will almost always be local plans developed at a local level; the RRF helps ensure that local plans are developed where they need to be, and that they work well with other, neighbouring, plans. There may also be specific areas where a regional plan is developed, building on local plans to generate a region-wide response to a crisis.
In London, with all the implications of being a capital city and the seat of Government, the regional and local levels coincide to some extent, as reflected by the increased involvement of the London Resilience Team in city wide planning.
Regional Media Emergency Forums
Regional Media Emergency Forums (RMEFs) were set up as a voluntary arrangement, bringing together media and local responders to deliver the best public information and news practice in an emergency.
Membership of the RMEF varies but in all cases comprises representatives of:
-
local and regional media
-
police, fire and ambulance services
-
local authorities
-
other key agencies and utilities
-
central government at regional level
Through the RMEFs, the media gain a better understanding of how the emergency response works, while the emergency planning community learn about what the media requires, and the role that the media can play in warning and informing the public.
