The Civil Contingencies Act 2004
The page contains details of the Civil Contingencies Act
The Government have introduced new legislation to help provide better integrated emergency management this is being brought about through the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, which received Royal Assent on the 18th November 2004.
The act has been brought about to replace the outdated legislation governing emergency planning.
The aim of the Act is to ‘improve the UK’s resilience through working with others to anticipate, assess, prevent, respond and recover’.
The Act requires all Local Authorities to have audited plans in place.
The Act has set up two categories of responders Local Authorities are now category one responders.
Other category one responders are Police Forces, Fire Authorities, Ambulance Services, Environment Agency, Primary Care Trusts and NHS Acute Trusts (Hospitals).
As a category one responder a Local Authority must:
- Assess local risks and use this to inform Emergency Planning
- Put in place emergency plans
- Put into place Business Continuity Management arrangements
- Put into place arrangements to make information available to the public about civil protection matters and maintain arrangements to warn, inform and advise the public in the event of an emergency
- Share information with other local responders to enhance coordination
- Cooperate with other local responders to enhance coordination and efficiency, and
- Provide advice and assistance to businesses and voluntary organisations about business continuity management.
The Act is made up of two parts the purpose of the first part is to establish a new statutory framework for civil protection at the local level to ensure that responders are prepared to deal effectively with the full range of emergencies from localised incidents through to catastrophic emergencies.
The second part of the Act is about emergency powers.
In the UK emergency powers allow the making of special temporary legislation to deal with the most serious of emergencies.
Emergency Powers legislation is a mechanism for dealing with only the most serious of emergencies that require an urgent response, an instrument of last resort.
For more information on the Civil Contingencies Act go to www.ukresilience.info
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