Emergency Planning

Lord Mann Excerpts

Monday 20th February 2023 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Mann]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what recent assessment they have made of the robustness of their system of emergency planning across the country.

[The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Baroness Neville-Rolfe) (Con)]

The Civil Contingencies Act sets out the framework for emergency planning in the UK, which the Government have a legal obligation to review every five years. The most recent review was published in March 2022, which concluded that the Act continues to achieve its stated objectives, but it also set out recommendations to strengthen the system and its planning. The resilience framework published in December sets out the Government’s wider approach to strengthening our resilience to all risks.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Mann (Non-Afl)]

Considering the crisis in local government finance and the ongoing spectre of ambulances queuing at hospitals, how many emergency planning bodies have raised major concerns about our resilience in the event of a major disaster?

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)]

As the noble Lord suggests, we have a well-developed system of local resilience through the 38 local resilience forums. I have received no reports myself of particular concerns they have raised on this matter. It is more a matter for DLUHC than for the Cabinet Office, but I will look into it and get back to the noble Lord.