Civil Emergencies
During an emergency Northumberland County
Council has a responsibility for the care and welfare of its
residents, visitors and environment.
Under the Civil Contingencies Act, 2004, this
duty is a statutory requirement for the Council as a “Category 1”
Responder to:
- Assess the risk of emergencies occurring and use this to inform
contingency planning;
- Put in place emergency plans;
- Put in place Business Continuity Management arrangements;
- Put in 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
co-ordination;
- Co-operate with other local responders to enhance co-ordination
and efficiency; and
- Provide advice and assistance to businesses and voluntary
organisations about business continuity management (Local
Authorities only).
Those organisations in Category 1, are those
at the core of the response to most emergencies (e.g. emergency
services, local authorities, NHS bodies). Category 1 responders are
subject to the full set of civil protection duties.
Category 2 organisations (e.g. Health and
Safety Executive, transport and utility companies) are
"co-operating bodies" and less likely to be involved in the heart
of civil emergency responses but will be heavily involved in
planning for and responding to incidents that affect their sector.
Category 2 responders have a lesser set of duties e.g. co-operating
and sharing relevant information with other Category 1 and 2
responders.
Category 1 and 2 organisations in our area
come together to form the Northumbria
Local Resilience Forum (based on the Northumbria Police area)
which helps co-ordination and co-operation between responders at
the local level.
Northumberland County Council contributes to
the plans and processes at Northumbria level but also prepares,
exercises and maintains its own plans for response within the
County to the range of risks and threats which may affects our
community
The following pages provide information on the
range of those risks, set out in the Community Risk Register (CRR), and the key
Plans which have been developed to respond to them.
If you require more information please e-mail: eplan@northumberland.gov.uk
