§ Patrick MercerTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what plans there are for civil emergency exercises(a) in London and (b) elsewhere in the next 12 months. [128657]
§ Mr. AlexanderIn London, the London Resilience Partnership of the emergency services, health services, local authorities, utilities and transport agencies have a continuous programme of training and exercises. These comprise tabletop exercises, live exercises and training events.
Elsewhere, a nationwide rolling programme of exercises ensures that we have robust and well-practised contingency plans in place to respond to a whole range of civil emergency incidents. The main activity is carried out at the local and regional level by local authorities and the emergency services. These exercises are based on risk assessments which include natural, technological or man-made crises; for example, exercises cover key facilities such as airports, nuclear power stations and chemical complexes. It is complemented by a cross-governmental programme.
Under the broader cross-governmental programme, on the counter-terrorist side, the Home Office carries out three major exercises per annum plus a number of smaller scale exercises. Other exercises cover the health service response and consequence management of CBRN-related emergencies.
On non-terrorist disruptive challenges, future exercises include the testing of the response to oil pollution, civil nuclear emergency response, foot-and-mouth contingency testing, chemical spills, flood management and a fuel shortage and its impact on the food supply chain.
The UK also plans to participate in exercises with international partners and fora.