Report of the Community Services

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REPORT OF THE COMMUNITY SERVICES

SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

11 JANUARY 2005

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NOTE:A copy of the report mentioned below was sent to all members of the Community Services Scrutiny Committee and to other members who had requested it. Further copies are available from Nicola Hayden, Room 222, County Secretary’s Department, County Hall, Hertford. (Telephone:01992 555560)

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THE EXPECTED IMPACT OF THE CIVIL CONTINGENCY ACT ON HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL AND ITS PARTNER ORGANISATIONS WITHIN HESMIC

The Committee have considered a report which detailed the impact of the Act on the County Council and Hertfordshire Emergency Services Major Incident Committee (HESMIC) partnerships.

The report invited Members to consider whether additional, more detailed scrutiny was required and highlighted three possible areas of interest:

whether the County Council is properly prepared to meet the requirements of any one particular aspect of the new Act (i.e. warning and informing the public);

how to best approach the new statutory responsibility for promoting business continuity in the community; and

the roles and responsibilities ascribed to regional structures

The Committee also heard from Bill Welch, Assistant Chief Executive, Stevenage Borough Council and Paul Dudley, Head of Risk Management and Chairman of South East Alarm (Association of Local Authority Risk Managers.

Background

At present, the statutory basis for undertaking emergency planning rests largely on anachronistic legislation pertaining to the “Cold War” threat. Over the last decade, the County Council and other partners within HESMIC have advocated the need for modern legislation which reflects the work of emergency planning officers in today’s world and that this should be adequately funded.

The new Act sets out new responsibilities and clarifies existing responsibilities for those organisations, which form the core of the emergency response locally, who will, the Act affirms, “have a clear and consistent set of expectations and responsibilities in relation to civil protection”.

Information

The Act achieved Royal Assent on 18 November 2004 and will come into operation on 1 April 2005. Draft Regulations were issued on 9 December 2004. The consultation period on these is due to end on 3 March 2005.

The Act broadens the traditional view of an emergency. It will now encompass a wide range of threats or scenarios so that an “emergency” will be defined in terms of a serious or actual threat to human welfare and or the environment or a serious disruption to the security of, a place in England or Wales, - on such a scale that the effects cannot be dealt with as part of normal day to day activities.

The Act provides for two categories of responders:

Category 1 responders have duties to undertake various measures in connection with the protection of the population and environment for emergencies. Those organisations classed in this category are, for the most part, those organisations currently most involved in emergency planing activity across Hertfordshire under the auspices of HESMIC, namely:

• The emergency services
• Local authorities (County, Unitary and District Councils)
• NHS Trusts (Primary Care Trusts, Health Protection Agency, Acute Trusts)
• The Environment Agency

The police area is used to define the boundaries within which Category 1 responders should co-operate for the purposes of carrying out the allocated duties and responsibilities.

Category 2 responders have no duties directly but must co-operate with Category 1 responders if required. This category includes primarily utility and transport companies providing such services as electricity, gas, water, public communications and rail, road and air transportation, in addition to the Health and Safety Executive.

The stated intention of the Act is to deliver civil protection based on 6 key themes:

• Co-operation
• Information sharing
• Emergency planning
• Risk assessment
• Warning and informing
• Business Continuity Planning

Additionally, Local Authorities will have the duty to promote Business Continuity Management within the community.

The Act also incorporates a revision of the government’s range of emergency

powers. It enables Ministers to declare a state of emergency, which would allow

emergency powers to be directed at the geographic area where they are needed

(i.e. within a particular region, if necessary, as opposed to nationally).

The power is wide in scope in order to achieve a wide range of outcomes running across a range of policy sectors, including:

• Suspending statutory requirements which may inhibit response and recovery work,
• Requisitioning of property
• Restricting travel
• Evacuating and decontaminating an area
• Restoring and allocating disrupted water, gas or electricity supplies.

Failure to comply would be a criminal matter.

The duties will undoubtedly create additional work for all HESMIC partners. However, it should be recognised that the County Council and its partners within HESMIC will be starting from a position of considerable strength, given the amount of effort and attention which has been given to developing joined-up, multi-agency emergency planning arrangements over many years in Hertfordshire.

In the event of the need to implement “emergency powers” on a regional basis, a senior Minister will appoint a Regional Nominated Co-ordinator. The role of the co-ordinator is to facilitate the co-ordination of activity under the emergency regulations, including the power to direct operations and prioritise response requirements.

Finance

Historically HCC have received a Civil Defence Grant to fund emergency planning activity within the County. The money has been used to fund internal arrangements as well as supporting district councils and HESMIC. From 1 April 2005 the Civil Defence Grant will no longer exist and both shire counties and district councils will receive their own money to fund the Act duties via the Revenue Support Grant. Shire county settlements will include money to support inter-agency working arrangements. The exact funding levels for Hertfordshire are, as yet, unknown but will be announced in the coming weeks.

This has considerable implications in the way that HCC works with districts in emergency planning in the future as districts will now receive money for fulfilling their own duties rather than relying on support from a county wide team. A number of options have been presented to Chief Executives of districts setting out future working arrangements, ranging from an HCC-based team meeting the district duties to the districts undertaking all their duties alone.

To date no final agreement has been reached. However, all Chief Executives have agreed in principle to choose one option, which will include some level of support from a shared pool of expertise employed by HCC. The likelihood is that HCC will enter into some form of contractual arrangements with districts to fulfil all or a proportion of their duties under the Act.

Other HESMIC agencies, notably the emergency services, are keen for districts to 'buy in' to a shared pool of officers to facilitate efficient and effective working across the county.

The County Council’s 2005/06 budget has made provision to increases spending on emergency planning from this year’s figure of £359,252 to £638,000.

Comments of the Scrutiny Committee

• noted that the previous level of preparedness had placed Category 1 responders within Hertfordshire in a good position to meet the requirements of the Civil Contingencies Act.

• noted that the full implications for the County Council would not be known until the Regulations are finalised, but that the Authority is well placed to meet these.

• requested that a further report be brought back later in the year once the Regulations have been published and the full implications of them known.

• welcomed the support given by Stevenage Borough Council to enable the County Emergency Planning Team to continue providing high quality support to district and borough councils, utilising some of the additional funding provided to district and borough councils.

• requested that a briefing note be circulated to members by the Head of Safety, Emergency and Risk Management following his meeting with district chief executives, as to the level of buy-in by those councils.

• noted the high level of business continuity planning within the County Council and recognised the challenge facing the Emergency Planning Team in promoting business continuity planning within the business community.

MICHAEL COLNE

CHAIRMAN

County Hall

Hertford,

11 January 2005

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050111 CS Scrutiny Committee Report