The Civil Contingencies Act

Summary of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004

On 17 November 2004 the Civil Contingencies Act (CCA 2004) received Royal Assent. The Act is in two parts. Part One of the Act places several emergency planning related duties on local authorities, as well as on a range of other Category 1 and Category 2 responders. These are described in Table 1 below:

Table One – Category One and Category Two Local Responders

Category One

Category Two
  • Local Authorities
  • Police
  • Fire
  • Ambulance & Health
  • Environment Agency
  • Maritime & Coastguard Agency
  • The Secretary of State
  • Electricity, Gas, Water, and Telecommunications Providers
  • Railway, Airport, and Ferry Operators
  • Harbour Authorities
  • Health and Safety Executive 

Each Category One responder has a statutory duty for:

  • Risk Assessment. Category One responders each have a duty to undertake a risk assessment process that evaluates and prioritises those hazards according to their associated risks in their local geographical area. The process was undertaken collectively in County Durham and Darlington, with the end product being the Community Risk Register.
     
  • Emergency Planning. The main requirement of the CCA 2004 is to maintain plans to ensure that, if an emergency occurs or is likely to occur, each Category One responder body can deliver its functions for the purpose of preventing the emergency, reducing controlling or mitigating its effects, or taking other action in connection with it.
     
  • Training and Exercising. The CCA 2004 very clearly state that those staff named in emergency plans must:
    • know their role
    • be competent to carry out the tasks assigned to them
    • be properly equipped
    • have confidence that their partners in response are similarly prepared
  • In terms of testing and exercising, the guidance recommends that contact numbers should be tested every three months, plan activation processes tested at least annually.
     
  • Business Continuity Management.
    • Responders must ensure that they can continue to perform their functions in the event of an emergency ie both a organisation’s civil protection functions and their normal functions.
    • Business Continuity Management must be regarded as an integral part of a responder body’s normal management processes.
    • Local authorities are also the only named responder body, which have a duty to promote business continuity management as good business practice within both the wider business community and to voluntary organisations.
       
  • Warning and Informing the Public. Promoting a much greater awareness of emergencies in the public consciousness, such as local hazards, their potential impacts, what the public services will provide to prevent and mitigate incidents and also what the public can do to prepare themselves in advance of an emergency and how they can help themselves when an emergency occurs. 
     
  • Sharing Information. The CCA 2004 states that responders can request information from each other providing it is for the purpose of fulfilling responsibilities under the Act. Information is to be shared between responders and there are no stipulations regarding how such exchanges should take place, e.g. via formal meetings or informal conversations.
     
  • Co-operation. Category 1 and 2 Responders are obliged to cooperate with each other and other organisations engaged in response in the same local resilience area (Police area – County Durham & Darlington. The Local Resilience Forum is the principal mechanism for multi-agency cooperation between responders in a local area.

Category Two responders will have a duty only to share information and to co-operate with Category One responders in fulfilment of their own duty.   

Local Authorities also have an additional responsibility not only to ensure they have their own robust business continuity arrangements, but also to promote business continuity management as good practice within the local business community.

Part Two of the Act gives the Government Emergency Powers, which it can use in an emergency. 

Supporting regulations and guidance for Part One of the Act have been published. Two guidance documents ‘Emergency Preparedness’ which is a comprehensive 200 page guide and a 70+ page guide to ‘Emergency Response and Recovery’. Part One of the Act came into force on 1 October 2005, with the exception of promoting business continuity within the local business community which came into force on 15 May 2006.

See Civil Contingencies Unit Overview.