Resilience governance arrangements in Scotland
This chapter sets out resilience governance structures in Scotland. It is broken into two parts: the 'preparation' stage and the 'response/recovery' stage, highlighting the bodies involved and their respective roles.
Preparation
In preparation, the role of Ministers is to give oversight to strategic policy and guidance in the context of resilience in Scotland. Ministers keep abreast of matters related to promoting and improving civil protection, contingency planning and preparing for specific contingencies.
Whilst acknowledging the independence of Category 1 responder agencies to undertake preparation pertaining to resilience, such preparation will generally take place within an overarching structure of legislation and national guidance.
The Scottish Resilience Partnership (SRP)
The Scottish Resilience Partnership (SRP) acts as a strategic policy forum for resilience issues that statutory responders and key resilience partners are aware of, significant resilience gaps and priorities, to be addressed in line with appropriate and available resources. It also provides advice to the resilience community on how best to ensure that Scotland is prepared to respond effectively to major emergencies.
Response / recovery
Scottish Government Resilience Room (SGORR)
The Scottish Government Resilience Room (SGORR) is the Scottish Government’s central co-ordination mechanism for responding to civil contingencies emergencies.
SGORR activates when and for as long as the severity and complexity of an emergency is such that urgent co-ordination, support or strategic direction from or within Scottish Government is required and cannot be provided effectively through business-as-usual structures or other Scottish Government response mechanisms.
Incidents which may meet this threshold include, but are not limited to:
- severe weather, e.g. storms, flooding, snow
- terrorist attacks
- pandemics
- major incidents with mass casualties/fatalities, e.g. a plane crash
- high-impact cyber incidents
- significant disruption to the supply of essential services/utilities, e.g. a national power outage
- widespread public disorder
SGORR provides Scottish Ministers and senior officials with situational awareness, enabling them to provide scrutiny and make informed strategic decisions. It facilitates the co-ordination of work across government, ensuring a joined-up approach. It supports effective liaison and co-ordination with responders at all levels in Scotland, the UK Government and other devolved governments.
Doing so, SGORR enables the Scottish Government to support an appropriate and effective response to civil contingencies emergencies, effectively playing its part in reducing harm caused to the people, environment, and economy of Scotland, while laying the foundation for a swift recovery.
SGORR adapts its response to the emergency being addressed. Its main tools are providing key information through written briefings; convening meetings at official or ministerial level for co-ordination, scrutiny and decision making; and supporting connections between stakeholders relevant to the response across and outside the Scottish Government. In short, SGORR aims to get the right people together at the right time, give them the right information, and enable them to talk about the right things – at pace.
When active, SGORR does not take over responsibilities from other areas of government. Other areas remain responsible for briefing their Ministers, engaging with their sector, and providing the co-ordination, support and advice required from their areas. Similarly, SGORR does not assume responsibilities from responders or replace their multi-agency response structures. The role of SGORR is to co-ordinate and facilitate.
SGORR is a short-term mechanism for co-ordinating the government response to an emergency. It is not designed to be active for sustained periods of time or to manage recovery from a crisis. Before SGORR stands down, SGORR officials will work with relevant colleagues across government and seek assurance that a seamless transition to business-as-usual structures or other response mechanisms, including any new or temporary structures required, can take place. Where continued co-ordination of activity across government is required, SGORR officials will support a suitable area of government in their preparations to assume the lead role.
SGORR is a mechanism rather than a permanent structure or team, maintained by the SGORR Secretariat in the Civil Contingencies Division.
Specifically, when activated, SGORR will:
- provide relevant Ministers and senior officials with situational awareness, enabling them to provide scrutiny and make informed strategic decisions
- facilitate the co-ordination of work across government, establishing connections and supporting the development of joined-up, cross-government solutions using all appropriate powers, capabilities and resources
- aid the local response by supporting effective liaison across stakeholders relevant to the response, including local responders, the Scottish Government, the UK Government and other devolved governments
- assist in the co-ordination of the Scottish Government’s public messaging, supporting alignment between SG and responder public communications
- co-ordinate the Scottish Government’s role in requests for Military Aid to the Civil Authorities (MACA), Emergency Alerts and Mutual Aid
- ensure recovery is considered throughout the response, and seek assurance that arrangements for a co-ordinated transition to the recovery phase are being put in place
- provide or facilitate additional co-ordination of Scottish Government activity as appropriate and required
The main tools for delivering these functions are:
- providing written briefing
- convening meetings at officials and ministerial level
- engaging with partners across and outside the Scottish Government
Providing written briefing
To support situational awareness and enable scrutiny and informed decision making, SGORR provides clear, concise and accurate written briefings to Ministers, officials and partners. Sourcing information from stakeholders across and outwith government, SGORR produces two main types of SGORR briefings:
SGORR SITREPs: concise situation reports which clearly convey the current common understanding of an incident by covering key issues, their impact and expected trends, and actions to be taken
SGORR Updates: short updates used to quickly inform of significant developments before a comprehensive SGORR SITREP is issued, or where an incident/development does not warrant a full SITREP
Convening SGORR meetings
To provide a forum for Ministers, senior officials and external partners to provide scrutiny and make timely, informed and effective decisions during a response, SGORR convenes two types of meetings:
SGORR(Officials), also referred to as SGORR(O): meetings bringing together Scottish Government officials and partner organisations relevant to a response, chaired by a SGORR official
SGORR(Ministerial), also referred to as SGORR(M): meetings bringing together Scottish Ministers, Scottish Government officials and partner organisations relevant to a response, chaired by the First Minister or the Minister with portfolio responsibility for resilience
For both types of meetings, the choice of attendees will reflect the incident at hand. Invitees are often of high seniority, but more importantly will have the knowledge and authority to provide information and/or make decisions on behalf of their business areas and/or organisations. External organisations attending SGORR meetings may include categorised responders as well as other organisations relevant to the response from across the public, private, voluntary and community sectors.
Engaging with partners
To enable an appropriate, co-ordinated and effective Scottish Government response to an incident, SGORR will coordinate and work with a range of partners, including other areas of Scottish Government, local responders as well as UK Government departments and other devolved governments.
During a SGORR activation, responders are expected to:
- inform SGORR as relevant of their activity, any significant issues, and developments to the incident to help ensure a co-ordinated response
- prepare written briefing contributions to SGORR on their area of responsibility in the management of the incident, often within short timescales
- attend SGORR(O) and SGORR(M) meetings as required, putting forward a representative with the knowledge and authority to provide information/make decisions on behalf of their business area/organisation
- progress and update SGORR on actions assigned during SGORR meetings
- host Scottish Government Liaison Officers and despatch their own liaison officers to SGORR as required to support shared situational awareness
Scottish Government Communications
Scottish Government Communications will support Ministers and manage the Scottish Government’s communications response to emergencies.
Scottish Government Liaison Officers (SGLO)
The Scottish Government may send a Liaison Officer (SGLO) to help ensure effective communication between responders and government; act as the principal contact for government officials or Scottish Ministers and provide general government-related advice and support.
UK Arrangements
The UK government’s Amber Book (the Amber Book) (published April 2025) provides a national framework for crisis response, establishing clear roles and responsibilities and defining expectations across the lifecycle of a crisis. It acts as the foundational document for crisis management in UK government, informs risk-specific planning and is the basis for training UK government staff.
The Amber Book details key roles and responsibilities for response. This includes information on the relationship between the central, regional and local tiers within England, as well as covering the relationship between UK central government and the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The document applies to UK government’s crisis management arrangements, and the devolved governments have their own respective structures to lead their response efforts for matters which are devolved. Nonetheless, the Amber Book provides a foundation for productive and collaborative working across the Four Nations. Crises do not respect borders or policy areas, and a partnership approach between all parts of the UK is essential to ensure we respond effectively to risks, wherever in the UK they occur.
The Cabinet Office Briefing Room (COBR) - UK Government
Emergency response is founded on the principle of subsidiarity. However, the characteristics of an event – scale, complexity, external scrutiny, context – can determine the appropriate tier of the UK emergency management system which is needed to be activated to effectively manage the situation. The Amber Book’s, three tiers of response include:
Local response: emergencies which are handled by Category 1 and 2 responders, without the involvement of central government.
Lead Government Department (LGD) response: emergencies where national leadership, co-ordination or support is provided by the LGD through their own response structures and with the support of other departments and bodies.
COBR response: where the collective UK central government response is co-ordinated or led from the centre by Cabinet Office through government’s central crisis management arrangements.
As set out in The Amber Book:
Managing a crisis may require different governance structures at different points of the crisis. For example, Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms (COBR) meetings may be used at the onset of a crisis to co-ordinate the government’s acute response.
COBR meetings are the primary organisational structure for agreeing and co-ordinating the central government response to the acute phase of a crisis.
When COBR convenes, its default strategic objectives are to:
- protect human life and, as far as possible, property and the environment
- support the continuity of everyday activities and the restoration of disrupted services
- uphold the rule of law and democratic process
- protect UK interests overseas and provide support to British nationals
COBR facilitates urgent ministerial collective agreement, providing timely, co-ordinated advice to ministers and senior officials during crises. COBRs provide a focal point for the government’s response and an authoritative source of advice for local responders.
Liaison between the UK Government and the Scottish Government
Annex G of the Amber Book summarises the key principles and arrangements for how UK government works with the devolved governments when responding to crises which require engagement between UK government and the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and/or the Northern Ireland Executive.
The Amber Book states when the:
Matter is devolved and doesn’t have cross-border implications
Where a crisis takes place in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland for a matter which is devolved, the impacted devolved governments will activate their own response structures to lead their response effort. In certain circumstances, the relevant devolved government may request support from the UK government, just as the UK government can request support from the devolved governments. For example, extensive flooding may overwhelm available resources of a devolved government and they can request further support from the UK government. Such requests would typically be channelled through the relevant territorial office or directly with the relevant UK government department. Even in crises relating to issues in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are devolved, there may be circumstances where the UK government provides support using reserved levers which interact with or enable devolved lever actions.
Matter is devolved with cross-border implications
Where a crisis in a devolved policy area spans across administrative borders, the UK government and relevant devolved government(s) will lead response within their own respective territories in accordance with their own response arrangements, but will take steps to establish close partnerships and co-ordinate an effective response. For less severe crises, where the UK government response is being handled through the LGD’s response structure, the relevant LGD would be expected to engage the relevant devolved governments and vice versa to ensure an effective and joined-up response, establishing links between respective response structures and coordinating response activity where appropriate.
Where COBR crisis management arrangements have been entered into, Cabinet Office would typically enact the following arrangements:
- activate established links with the civil contingencies structure in the devolved government
- invite devolved government(s) ministers and officials to relevant meetings, including COBR where appropriate – this would typically be the case where the crisis impacts, or has the potential to impact, the devolved government
- where appropriate, request situation reports from the devolved government to feed into the development of the CRIP to ensure a UK-wide appreciation of the situation
- where appropriate, situational awareness products would be shared with devolved government(s) to ensure a shared situational awareness – this would typically be the case when there is a benefit in having a joint understanding of impacts being felt across the UK
- actively look to support the co-ordination of response activities where appropriate to ensure a joined-up approach is taken to managing consequences which impact multiple parts of the UK
- deploy a liaison officer, if required, to represent UK government ministers’ views and facilitate the exchange of information and likewise host devolved government liaison officers
- if required, assist in the liaison with any other countries impacted by the crisis, e.g. the Irish Government
- engage on public communication strategies to, where possible, achieve consistency in public messaging – the devolved governments will co-ordinate, as appropriate, with the public communications strategies of local responders in their area
Matter is reserved
For a crisis which impacts Scotland, Wales, and/or Northern Ireland related to a reserved matter, the UK government would lead the response to the reserved matter, working closely with the relevant devolved government(s) who would respond to consequences which are devolved. In such instances, both the UK government and the devolved government(s) would enact their own civil contingencies arrangements to co-ordinate their contribution to the response.
In response to less severe crises relating to a reserved matter, the relevant LGD from the UK government would lead the response through their own response structures, working closely with the impacted devolved governments who would respond to consequences which are devolved. In such instances, the UK government LGD would be responsible for liaising closely with local responders on the reserved matter and the relevant devolved government in relation to wider consequence management to ensure an effective co-ordinated response.
For more severe crises, where COBR crisis management arrangements have been activated, Cabinet Office would typically enact the following arrangements:
- activate established links with the civil contingencies structure in the devolved government
- inviting devolved government(s) ministers and officials to relevant meetings, including COBR where appropriate
- where appropriate, requesting situation reports from the devolved government(s) to feed into the development of the CRIP to ensure a UK-wide appreciation of the situation
- where possible, situational awareness products would be shared with devolved government(s) to ensure a shared situational awareness
- supporting close working between the LGD for the reserved matter and the impacted devolved government(s), to ensure coherent consequence management for both devolved and reserved matters
- engaging on public communication strategies to support the co-ordination of messaging whenever there are devolved aspects to the response
- representatives from the devolved governments may also where appropriate be deployed to the COBR response structure and vice versa