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Publication - Advice and guidance

Care for people affected by emergencies

Published
1 Nov 2017
Topic
Preparing Scotland

Annex A – legislation

Preparing Scotland is underpinned by the principal legislation involved, the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 ('the Act'), the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (Contingency Planning) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 and the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (Contingency Planning) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2013 ('the Regulations').

The Contingency Planning (Scotland) Regulations 2005 require Category 1 responders to consider whether it would be helpful for a number of them to work together and maintain a multi-agency functional plan.

The Scottish Government believes it would be beneficial for responders to maintain multi-agency arrangements (generic plans) to care for all people affected by emergencies, including those directly or indirectly involved, the emergency responders seeking to support them and their communities.

Responders

The Act and the Regulations outline key organisations responsible for ensuring the effective management of emergencies in Scotland.

Duties

The said legislation places a number of duties upon Category 1 responders. These are, in brief, the duty to:

  • assess risk
  • maintain emergency plans
  • maintain business continuity plans
  • promote business continuity (this duty applies to Local Authorities only)
  • communicate with the public
  • share information
  • cooperate

For Category 2 responders, the basic legislative principle is that they must cooperate with Category 1 responders in connection with the performance of their duties, including the proper sharing of information.

Structures

The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (Contingency Planning) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2013; Reg: 2(2)(a) Regulations outline the structure within which cooperation to meet these legal duties should be undertaken, namely the Regional Resilience Partnerships (RRPs).

There are 3 RRPs: the North of Scotland, East of Scotland and West of Scotland.

To support working arrangements and maintain effective local liaison, the RRP areas have subdivided into 12 Local Resilience Partnerships (LRPs), taking account of existing Local Authority and, where applicable, Health Board boundaries.

The Resilience Partnership framework is integrated with the Scottish Government emergency arrangements which in turn are integrated with the UK Government. The Scottish Government may establish its Resilience Room (SGoRR), as appropriate, which is linked with the activities taking place within the Cabinet Office's Briefing Rooms (COBR). The Scottish Government's corporate arrangements involve all of its directorates and a Cabinet Sub-Committee (CSC), as necessary, depending on the nature of the emergency.

The management framework, therefore, describes the communications links from local to UK Government level.

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