The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 establishes the statutory framework for civil protection at the local level. Local Authorities, emergency and health services are designated as ‘Category 1 Responders’ with a clear set of roles and responsibilities. Regulations made under the Act impose a number of duties on Category 1 Responders including:
- Warning and Informing the Public
- Developing, Maintaining and Publishing a Community Risk Register
- Co-operating and Sharing Information with Responders and Agencies
- Develop Business Continuity Plans
- Planning for Emergencies
- Training and Exercising Emergency Plans
Local authorities have an additional duty to promote Business Continuity Planning in their own areas.
Working in partnership with other Responder organisations is essential to fulfilling these duties. As a result, the planning and response structures of Emergency Planning have also changed in Scotland. Eight multi-agency Strategic Co-ordinating Groups (SCGs), based on police force areas, ensure that there are appropriate detailed plans for a wide range of possible incidents in the area.
The Scottish Government chairs the Resilience Advisory board for Scotland (RABS) and Scottish Resilience has overall responsibility for policy, apart from Health, on emergency planning in Scotland.
The City of Edinburgh Council Emergency Plan details how the Council will respond to any serious emergency or major incident as well as plans for particular hazards or types of incidents, for example flooding, plans for certain industrial sites as required by regulation, and major pipelines.
