§ Mr. Tony BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what efforts are made by his Department to provide the public with details of emergency planning.
§ Mr. HurdThe publication "Emergency Planning Guidance to Local Authorities", which was issued to local authorities in 1985, is available to members of the public on request and can be found in public libraries. Work is in hand to revise and amplify the guidance. A booklet entitled "Civil Protection", published in 1986, and a current quarterly magazine of the same name set out the basis of emergency planning arrangements and give information on current issues.
§ Mr. Tony BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make it his policy to impose a duty on local authorities to prepare adequate emergency plans for peacetime disasters; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HurdDuties are already imposed on local authorities in relation to emergency planning under the Control of Industrial Major Accident Hazards Regulations 1984. Suggestions for a more general duty on local authorities have been raised as part of current discussions on the structure of the response to civil emergencies in the United Kingdom.