Emergency response structures during the COVID-19 pandemic Councillor guidance

Overview :

This short note has been produced as a supplement to our earlier Local Government Association (LGA) councillor guidance on the COVID-19 outbreak1 and sits alongside our new COVID-19 workbook for leaders and cabinet members.2 It provides a short overview of the emergency response framework set out in the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (the Act), and councils’ role within it : the LGA’s full councillor guide to civil emergencies also provides guidance on this issue.

Local Resilience Forums :

The 2004 Act sets out the broad framework under which local areas and national government prepare for and respond to civil emergencies, which are defined as events or situations which threaten serious damage to human welfare or the environment of a place in the UK, or war or terrorism which threatens serious damage to the security of the UK.
Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) are the mechanism set out in the Act for coordinating local emergency preparedness, response and recovery activity, and provide a key interface between national government and local areas. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s (MHCLG) Resilience and Emergencies Division (RED) is the primary central government interface for LRFs and responsible for directly engaging with local areas, while the Cabinet Office’s Civil Contingencies Secretariat (CCS) holds overall policy responsibility for civil emergencies.

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