Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what options are open to communities if local resilience plans are deemed inadequate during public consultations.

There is no general requirement under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 for responders to undertake public consultation on emergency plans before adopting them. Category 1 responders have duties under the Act to assess risk, maintain emergency plans and make information available to the public, but these do not amount to a general requirement to consult the public on the contents of those plans.

Communities can raise concerns about local emergency planning with the relevant responder or Local Resilience Forum so that they can be considered through local review and improvement arrangements. Where there are concerns about LRF performance, MHCLG will engage and work with the LRF to support improvements. In extreme cases the Civil Contingencies Act also provides for government enforcement where responders fail to perform their statutory duties.