Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what scenario planning his Department is undertaking on Military Aid to Civil Authorities.

Civil authorities and emergency services provide the first response to crises, emergencies and/or major incidents within the UK. They can however request Military Aid to the Civil Authorities (MACA) when they require additional or niche capabilities as described in 'Joint Doctrine Publication 02, UK Operations: the Defence Contribution to Resilience and Security'.

Defence participates actively in the Cabinet Office coordinated National Risk Assessment (NRA) process. The NRA, which is refreshed every two years, is a compendium of the most significant risks, or scenarios, that could manifest in the UK over the next five years. As part of the development and assessment of these scenarios the extent to which Defence may be required to provide MACA is considered. An unclassified version of the scenarios detailed in the NRA, can be found in the National Risk Register at the following link:

https://naru.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/UK-National-Risk-Register-2017.pdf