Clause 2 - Duty to assess, plan and advise
Civil Contingencies Bill
4:45 pm
Mr Douglas Alexander (Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Cabinet Office; Paisley South, Labour)
I shall be happy to write to the hon. Gentleman on the specific point of Northern Ireland because I am keen to move on and, in the limited time remaining, to cover the question of warning and informing the public.
The Bill will effectively reinforce arrangements at a local level to provide information about risks and planning preparation. The Government are committed to giving the public as much information as they can about threats and risks. Our guiding principle is that whatever, whenever and wherever information is available that will help to protect the public, we will give detailed advice in advance about how to handle every threat. We heard about several threats in the course of our discussion that could be misleading and unhelpful and could lead to confusion in an incident where members of the public, shorn of the local responsibility that I will describe in a minute, could misinterpret the circumstances that they were encountering.
It was suggested that a better system operates in Australia. Certainly, the Government are considering—and keep under review—the need to communicate directly with the public about what is an appropriate and sensible way forward in sharing information with them. Before any incident, it is appropriate and right to assure the public that measures are in place for their protection, but it is not always appropriate to specify in each and every circumstance the precise nature of those measures that are being taken.
We have heard compliments paid to the UK Resilience website, operated by the Government. Far from being overly secretive, such sites are designed to address the public's information demands. The Government, however, keep under review how we communicate with the public and how they should respond in the event of a major incident. We take that responsibility seriously. We have a long track record of having been able to work effectively with local responders—not least, the experience of Irish terrorism for more than 30 years has meant that the British public are well used to taking direction in circumstances of an incident, particularly from the emergency services. The public have a great deal of common sense that has been brought to bear in particular circumstances such as those we have experienced over the past 30 years.
Part 1 of the Bill is about making information available during the response phase. Local responders need to be able to issue warnings to make sure that the public stay out of harm's way or seek appropriate help. The Bill refers to arrangements and it is our intention to use the regulations to ensure that local responders work together to develop common warning arrangements based on jointly owned resources or protocols for who will take the lead in certain circumstances. That is more appropriately dealt with in the regulations.
By and large, those organisations with responsibility for warning the public, will retain those obligations under the Bill. The question of the range of exercises that have been run past government was raised, and the suggestion was made that no preparatory work was being undertaken, or at least questions were raised as to whether emergency exercises were being undertaken. I hope that I can offer the Committee some assurance on that point. It is simply not the case to suggest that exercises have not been undertaken. Indeed, the hon. Member for Ribble Valley recognised Operation Osiris on the London tube, which I attended last September.
The Government and emergency services train regularly and practise their responses to all kinds of major incidents, including natural disasters and accidents. In addition, the Home Office runs a programme of major exercises that specifically deal with terrorist scenarios. The proportion of live to simulated elements in each exercise varies according to the exercise scenario. The type of exercises that have taken place include table-top exercises, command-post exercises and full-scale live exercises. Depending on the various scenarios that have been undertaken in this work, they can involve any or all of the following: Government Departments, the emergency services, the military, local authorities, scientists and technical experts, utility companies and the security services.
In July 2000, Exercise Trump Card simulated a release of chemicals in London without any warning, which would have led to casualties and deaths among members of the public and the emergency services. Throughout the exercise, other dangerous devices were located and disrupted around the city, including on the underground. This was one of at least three full-scale live terrorist attacks and approximately 12 to 15 table-top exercises that take place each year. Other recent live exercises have included a hijacked aircraft, terrorist occupation of an offshore oil well and ships, the release or threatened release of chemical and biological agents, and nuclear devices. Of course, all exercises are fully evaluated and participants given detailed feedback, as was the case with Operation Osiris. I believe I have covered the funding points raised.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 2 ordered to stand part of the Bill.