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The Future of UK Resilience

Details: Thursday 21st February 2013, Royal College of Surgeons - London, 08:45 - 16:45.

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Overview

Ensuring resilience to civil emergencies and natural hazards is a pertinent issue at present, particularly in light of recent flooding and extreme weather in parts of the UK. The dramatic shift this year from a drought to the wettest June since records began, accompanied by widespread flooding, highlighted the need for communities to develop greater resilience to protect critical infrastructure.

The Civil Contingencies Act came into force in November 2004, placing a legal responsibility for emergency planning on emergency services and local authorities. This also required the formation of ‘Local Resilience Forums’ to help co-operation between Category 1 and 2 responders at the local level. In March 2011, the government released the Strategic National Framework on Community Resilience, which highlighted the importance of localised, community planning to ensure resilience and protection from civil emergencies. This was a set of guiding principles which encouraged community preparedness for emergencies and raising awareness of risk.

Furthermore, on 25th January 2012, the government published the first UK Climate Change Risk Assessment, which highlighted the UK’s vulnerability to extreme weather and the increasing flood risk. Defra expect to spend at least £2.17 billion on flooding and coastal erosion over the next four years.

Objectives

This forum will provide a timely opportunity for stakeholders to come together to examine and develop strategies for UK resilience against natural hazards and civil emergencies. Following the success of last year’s forum, the day will allow attendees to get a strategic update on building national and local resilience, share best practice, and develop plans to tackle emerging threats and new risks.

Audience

The audience will comprise of central, local and regional government agencies, as well as category 1 and 2 level responders, and delegates will include heads of resilience and disaster recovery, directors of civil contingencies, emergency planning managers, business continuity managers, police, ambulance and fire rescue officers, emergency responders, heads of preparedness and response, and directors of telecommunications.

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09:00	Coffee and Registration

09:45	Chair's Welcome and Address Professor Dominic Elliott, Paul Roy Professor of Business Continuity and Strategic Management, University of Liverpool (CONFIRMED)

09:50	Building a Resilient UK: Preparing For Civil Contingencies Supporting local authorities in their resilience and business continuity planning and ensuring a resilient, prepared UK The impact of the Strategic National Framework on Community Resilience Updates to the Emergency Response and Recovery Guidance in 2012 The drive towards localism and the importance of community resilience The role of Local Resilience Forums and Fire and Rescue Authorities in protecting against civil contingencies Guaranteeing a multi-agency approach to civil contingencies and ensuring successful emergency responder interoperability Ensuring national and community resilience at a time of austerity and cuts to public services Neil O’Connor, Director, Fire, Resilience and Emergencies Directorate, Department for Communities and Local Government and Chair, Fire and Rescue Strategic Resilience Board (CONFIRMED)

10:10	Special Keynote: Safeguarding the UK Against Flooding - Implementing Effective Flood Resistance Flooding as the number one risk from a changing climate Best practice and learning lessons for managing flood risk now and in the future Working together to build a response plan Examining the impact of Exercise Watermark: are we better prepared for potential flooding? Meeting the legislative requirements of the Flood and Water Act 2010 and the European Floods Directive Effectively warning and communicating flood hazards to the public The importance of community resilience to flooding John Curtin, Head of Incident Management, Environment Agency (CONFIRMED)

10:30	Working in Partnership to Harness Expertise Working across all levels of government the Met Office provides advice and operational response and support to improve UK resilience that ultimately protect lives, property and infrastructure The crucial role our Public Weather Service Advisors play in saving lives and protecting the UK’s infrastructure and economy from damage caused by weather. Working with the EA on the Flood Forecasting Centre and SEPA on the Scottish Flood Forecasting Service to warn against all sources of flooding Working with partners on the Natural Hazard Partnership – a multi hazard approach Working with Scottish Government on ‘Get Ready for winter campaign’ Working with environmental science based organisations to improve and invest in our science to deliver services for the partnership, value of money to the taxpayer and stimulate economic growth Working with partners in the UK and US to develop space weather forecasting capability to contribute to mitigation of the risk on the National Risk Register Phil Evans, Director of Government Services, Met Office (CONFIRMED)

10:50	Questions and Answers Session

11:10	Coffee and Networking

11:30	The Role of Science in Protection Against Natural Hazards Making effective use of scientific advice when preparing for natural hazards, emergencies and terrorism How does the government use science and engineering advice to respond to civil emergencies? Improving the communication of scientific advice during emergencies Assessing and managing high impact but low probability risk The importance of warning systems for predicting risks Predicting how an emergency might develop and what the possible consequences may be Providing scientific and technical advice to help inform UK cross-government decision making in the event of a natural disaster or civil emergency Bryony May, Senior Policy Advisor, Government Office for Science (CONFIRMED)

11:50	Ensuring Emergency Preparedness - Preparing for the Eventuality of a Pandemic Developing improved response plans for a pandemic – lessons learned from the H1N1 (2009) influenza pandemic Employing the principles of precaution, proportionality and flexibility in pandemic planning and response The roles of NHS, social care commissioners and providers and the Health Protection Agency in the event of a pandemic Public Health England: Strengthening the national response to public health crises How can local authorities effectively prepare for a potential pandemic: The role of Local Health Resilience Partnerships Working with the private sector to deliver vaccinations and build local resilience to pandemics The impact of transferring public health responsibilities from central government to local authorities – how can we ensure preparedness in the event of a pandemic? Dr Chloe Sellwood, Pandemic & Seasonal Flu Resilience Manager, Emergency Preparedness, NHS London (CONFIRMED)

12:10	Case Study: Community Resilience North Somerset – One Step Forward Localisation of the Strategic National Framework on Community Resilience Conceptualizing a structured operational model Deliverability / sustainability / funding Pilot Project and desired outcomes: Helping communities to identify, prioritise and own local risk Making communities self-reliant and capable of assisting the emergency services during localised events Building a network of trained, resourced and registered volunteers Promoting community and stakeholder engagement to develop and maintain community resilience Taking forward learning outcomes from pilot to improve planning templates and training resources Overcoming real and perceived barriers: Insurance, safeguarding, local politics, resistance to change Expanding the Community Resilience Network across North Somerset Ian Wilson, Emergency Manager, North Somerset Council (CONFIRMED)

12:30	Questions and Answers Session

12:50	Lunch and Networking

13:50	Building Resilient Infrastructure and Preparing for Climate Change The UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA): What were the findings? The Adaptation Reporting Power – key evidence on risks and vulnerabilities The Climate Ready National Adaption Programme: a strong business sector, flexible buildings and infrastructure, prepared health and emergency services and a robust natural environment. Government and stakeholders taking responsibility and co-developing objectives Planning for an uncertain future Infrastructure and community resilience in the National Adaptation Programme Lessons from recent extreme weather Commercial opportunities from adaptation to climate change Summary and Questions for the audience Dominic Rowland, Head of Buildings and Infrastructure, Climate Change Adaptation, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) (CONFIRMED)

14:10	Case Study: The Importance of Social Cohesion for Community Resilience Applying the lessons from handling acute community tensions Introducing resilience-building initiatives to tackle social unrest Developing a ‘communities partnership’: Giving faith and ethnic leaders the opportunity to make their voices heard Ensuring the diversity of the community is valued Mitigating social unrest and community tensions Neil Evans, Director of Environment and Neighbourhoods, Leeds City Council and Chair, Safer Leeds Partnership (CONFIRMED)

14:30	Questions and Answers Session

14:50	Coffee and Networking

15:20	Developing an Effective Business Continuity Framework The Police as a Category 1 responder: Their duty to carry out civil protection functions in the event of an emergency Improving resilience through the development and implementation of comprehensive business continuity management planning The role of business continuity management in enhancing the performance of the police force Ensuring recovery from any disruption is timely and effective Identifying and managing risks to operations Guaranteeing that core policing activities can be delivered even during periods of civil emergency Embedding resilience across the organisation to ensure services can be delivered during a time when operation capability is lessened Preparing for both localised and force-wide scenarios and events such as a reduction in staff members, loss of IT and telecommunications and loss of electrical power or water supply John Ball, Business Continuity Co-ordinator, Sussex Police (CONFIRMED)

15:40	Putting the Jigsaw Together - Flood Incident Management The UK experience International models What not to do The current state of play What next? Roy Harold, Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service and National Resilience Capability Lead for Flood Rescue, Chief Fire Officers Association (CONFIRMED)

16:00	Preparing for Severe Weather: Mitigating the Impacts of Ice and Snow on Our Motorways and Trunk Roads The Highways Agency’s responsibilities and the Strategic Road Network Threats to network resilience - how they are assessed and mitigated Ensuring resilience during all types of severe weather Delivering winter service – the science behind it and what we do Encouraging the public to prepare for winter journeys The effectiveness of the 'Make Time for Winter Campaign' Crisis management and working with our resilience partners Martin Hobbs, Head of Network Resilience Strategy, Highways Agency (CONFIRMED)

16:20	Questions and Answers Session

16:45	Chair's Summary and Close *programme subject to change without notice

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