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Emergency planning is a key issue for local people and the reputation of councils and fire and rescue authorities can depend on the effectiveness of planning and response.
In recent years the LGA has represented councils and fire and rescue authorities at the highest levels of government in a range of national emergencies including civil disturbances, winter salt shortages, flooding to COVID-19.
As ‘category one responders’ under the Civil Contingencies Act, councils form a key part of local resilience forums tasked with multi-agency planning and preparedness activities and responding to a wide range of emergencies and incidents.
The importance of this work is highlighted by the fact that public inquiries have recently been, or are being held, in relation to three emergencies which councils were involved in the response to: the Manchester Arena attack, the Grenfell Tower fire, and the Covid-19 pandemic. John Hetherington, former Head of the London Resilience Group has shared with us his experience as a resilience professional of giving evidence to the Grenfell Fire inquiry. If you'd like to find out about contributing to an inquiry, view the video on YouTube.
The LGA has developed a councillor's guide to civil emergencies to help them understand councils’ civil contingencies responsibilities and how councillors can support these.
The Government has set out its plans to strengthen the UK’s resilience in the 2022 UK Government Resilience Framework. The Framework envisages a strengthened role for executive local democratic leaders in overseeing local resilience activity.