Civil Defence and Emergency Planning (Hansard, 22 May 2002)

§ 5. Colin Burgon (Elmet)
What plans he has to improve the co-ordination of civil defence and emergency planning. [55932]

§ The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Mr. Christopher Leslie)
The civil contingencies secretariat at the Cabinet Office was established last June. It provides the central focus for the Government's commitment to deal effectively with disruptive challenges, crises and emergencies. Effective multi-agency arrangements for dealing with emergencies, whatever their cause, are in place. We need to update the statutory framework and we are preparing the ground for that.

§ Colin Burgon
I thank the Minister for that reply. Is he confident that local authorities in areas of high population density such as Leeds can cope with the various emergency scenarios that they may face?

§ Mr. Leslie
One thing that I have learned in the course of my work on emergency planning is that the preparedness and work of local authority emergency planning officers are excellent. I should like to pay tribute to them. There is excellent co-ordination between the health services, the police and the fire authorities. I am confident that in major centres of population such as Leeds, the emergency services stand ready to cope with whatever challenges they may have to face.

§ Mr. Tim Collins (Westmorland and Lonsdale)
The Minister will recall from our extensive debates on the Civil Defence (Grant) Bill that many local authorities throughout the land remain deeply disappointed at the level of support and guidance from central Government following the events of 11 September. Will he clarify whether the Cabinet Office has now issued definitive guidance to all local authorities about what they should do to prepare for any repetition of 11 September or anything like it? Do the Government endorse the conclusions announced in the past few days by senior members of the US Administration that further terrorist attacks may indeed be very likely? If so, will he review any guidance that he has already issued?

§ Mr. Leslie
In respect of any terrorist threat, we remain on the alert and the situation is as it was after 11 September. As for discussion with local authorities, a ream of advice is available for emergency planning offices. The website at www.ukresilience.info should be sufficient to provide up-to-date information from the central news co-ordination centre about a number of different matters. I assure the hon. Gentleman that advice to postal services and a series of other agencies, including health and fire authorities, is available in the public 279 domain, as well as on the basis of the emergency planning college and the training that is done through the civil contingencies secretariat.

§ Mrs. Louise Ellman (Liverpool. Riverside)
What powers would a directly elected assembly have in relation to emergency planning and civil defence?

§ Mr. Leslie
The Deputy Prime Minister recently published the White Paper on regional governance, which included information on how we intend to give responsibilities to regional authorities in respect of civil contingency matters—and to strengthen the regions that do not opt for regional elected assemblies—in terms of the capacity to co-ordinate on a regional basis any mutual aid arrangements between local authorities, and other more strategic issues. I am certainly working hard to ensure that we have a strong regional dimension in emergency planning.

§ Mr. Peter Viggers (Gosport)
Does the Minister agree that the system of making security status known in Government buildings is obscure and not widely publicised? The term ?Black Bikini", for example, does not mean much to people in security terms. Has he observed that in the United States, the Department with responsibility for homeland defence has recently produced and widely publicised a new system using five different statuses ranging from red to green? Does he think that we have something to learn from that?

§ Mr. Leslie
The British are always very good at such things, and I am confident that the advice given to all public officials and civil servants in Government buildings about the level of security that applies is widely understood and readily available. I am not aware of the hon. Gentleman's "Black Bikini" example, but, having discussed with American homeland security officials some of the wider experiences in the United States, I shall certainly look much more closely at the matter.