Clause 23 - Regional and Emergency Coordinators
Civil Contingencies Bill
3:00 pm
Mr Douglas Alexander (Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Cabinet Office; Paisley South, Labour)
That seemed a curiously ageist comment on which to end what was otherwise a useful contribution. This is not an amendment that the Government can support, so we will resist it. The current emergency powers framework has always allowed central Government to confer responsibilities and delegate powers to deal with an emergency. The Bill does not change that. The regional nominated co-ordinators will be the focus for many of the new powers, delivering greater transparency and accountability. Such people will co-ordinate efforts at a regional level, providing strategic overview and a focus for media handling—a role that previous emergencies have shown to be vital. They will be able to act only within strict parameters: the powers given in emergency regulations. RNCs will be directly accountable to Ministers and, through them, to Parliament.
Regional and emergency co-ordinators will have three broad areas of expertise: subject matter specialisation—for example, public health—crisis management expertise and regional knowledge. All will be trained crisis managers with considerable leadership skills and personal authority. Establishing the right mix of skills will be a task for the planning phase during which the nomination will take place. Training will be tailored to build up the nominees' capabilities in the three identified areas to ensure that they can function effectively in any of them.
There is no question that RNCs will be appointed on any basis other than their competence to do the job, and that level of competence will be set very high, as befits such a significant post. I was challenged to name typical RNCs. Clearly, it is difficult to generalise, as it will depend on circumstances. However, it might be the chief constable of a region, a senior army officer from a local brigade, as was suggested, a senior regional officer from the state veterinary service, a regional director of public health or a director from a regional government office.
Reference was made to the control of major accident hazards regulations. Those cover very specific technical areas that are not, I would suggest, directly analogous to those to be handled by the RNCs. The circumstances that we are trying to anticipate vary widely. However, the basic point holds good. We need to ensure that there are competencies in every area; it would be otiose to put a general statement in the Bill when we are considering a range of qualities.