HL Deb 15 June 1989 vol 508 cc1638-40WA
Lord Gainford

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What conclusions they have reached following the Home Department's review of arrangements for handling major civil disasters in the UK.

The Minister of State, Home Office (Earl Ferrers)

Our emergency services have shown repeatedly how effectively they respond to widely differing disasters. But a number of suggestions have been made as to ways in which central government could provide better support for those with operational responsibilities.

The whole field of emergency response has therefore been reviewed. Consultations have involved the emergency services, local authorities, professional emergency planners, voluntary bodies and interested individuals, as well as other Government departments. A senior level seminar for those with operational responsibilities was held at the Civil Defence College, Easingwold, last November.

The main conclusions are:

  1. (a) prime responsibility for handling particular disasters should remain at the local level. It would not be assisted by anything in the nature of a "national disaster squad";
  2. (b) we need improved arrangements to give national oversight to the development of co-ordinated emergency planning, and to address specific practical issues raised by recent disasters;
  3. (c) more needs to be done to encourage and develop co-ordination of the various services at the local level.

To assist in meeting these objectives my right honourable friend the Home Secretary will be appointing a Civil Emergencies Adviser, charged with oversight of the whole subject and reporting directly to him. My right honourable friend will announce a name as soon as he can.

The adviser's functions will be to consider matters of current concern in the field to civil emergency planning in peacetime, with a view to helping those with operational responsibilities achieve the highest standards of co-ordination and compatibility between their contingency arrangements. He will not have an operational role during an emergency, but will be closely concerned with general questions of planning and training and with drawing out the broad lessons to be learnt from particular incidents.

To achieve this, he will work closely with senior officers of the emergency services, local authorities, voluntary bodies, safety inspectorates, Government departments and others directly concerned. He will be supported by a small Civil Emergencies Secretariat within the Home Office, working in association with the Cabinet Office. The secretariat will begin preliminary work immediately.

A number of specific issues have been identified in the course of the review which my right honourable friend will want the adviser to take forward as a matter of priority. These include the handling of casualty enquiries, psychological damage to survivors and relatives, assistance for foreign disasters, training and exercises. He may wish to draw on the work of existing groups which are already looking at some of the issues, or to convene interdisciplinary expert groups to address detailed questions.

To support the adviser's work, my right honourable friend is giving the Civil Defence College at Easingwold a wider remit and will expect it also to address questions of peacetime emergency planning irrespective of any wartime connections. This will be reflected in a change of name to "Emergency Planning College".

In the course of the review, local authorities argued strongly for a duty to be imposed on them to plan for peacetime emergencies. My right honourable friend has noted their views, but he is not presently convinced of the need for legislation and much can be done without it. My right honourable friend will, however, keep the position under review as work progresses.

The arrangements we have set out here do not alter the relationships or responsibilities of central government departments. The department with the closest involvement acts as "lead department" co-ordinating the central government response, organising the necessary executive action and keeping Parliament and the public informed. The lead department is supported by arrangements for collective discussion should that prove necessary. The new arrangements are complementary to existing arrangements and will provide as a new element, a central focus for the shared views and experience of the emergency services, local authorities and voluntary bodies.

We are placing in the Libraries of both Houses a more comprehensive statement about the conduct and outcome of the review.