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Publication - ELearning

Partnership working in emergency management

Published
24 Mar 2026

Lesson 1 – The principles of partnership working

Partnership working principles help everyone work better together.

In our first module, 'The foundations of emergency management in Scotland', we introduced you to the organisations and groups who work together to plan for, respond to, and support their communities to recover from emergencies. 

These partners meet regularly throughout the year to consider the risks they face at a local, regional and national level. By working together to plan and prepare for emergencies, they understand each other’s skills, resources and responsibilities and are able to work together effectively.

Throughout the Ready Scotland e-learning modules we emphasise the benefit of building connections and relationships all year round so that when serious challenges occur we all know how to work together well and share information. 

The principles

  1. Communication – Regular, respectful and accurate communication between those involved in planning response and recovery

  2. Collaboration – Working together over an online call or, if possible, in the same location vastly improves efficiency
  3. Coordination – By identifying shared priorities, resources and capabilities, the planning response and recovery become more coordinated
  4. Understanding of risk - Sharing information about the likelihood and potential impact of risks enables those involved to consider and agree the best mitigating steps, and what to do when things go wrong.
  5. Shared understanding - Reaching a shared understanding of the situation ensures that all potential consequences of the incident and all available resources are considered

Communities and voluntary sector groups are an essential partner in times of emergency. Resilience partnerships will always seek to include representatives from the voluntary sector in their work, as well as having a strong connection with communities through local authorities. These principles are based on the five Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP).

You can find out more about the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles on the JESIP website.

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