Emergency Planning - Civil Contingencies Act 2004

The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (CCA 2004) places a duty on all Category 1 responders to "assess the risk of an emergency within, or affecting a geographical area for which each Category 1 responder is responsible". The Act defines an emergency as "an event or situation which threatens serious damage to human welfare in a place in the United Kingdom, an event or situation which threatens serious damage to the environment of a place in the United Kingdom, or war or terrorism, which threatens serious damage to the security of the United Kingdom". This definition has two qualifying criteria, which also must be fulfilled, these are:

  • The threat or hazard is of a sufficient scale and nature that it is likely to seriously obstruct a Category 1 responder in the performance of its functions.
  • The threat or hazard requires the Category 1 responder to exercise its function and undertake a special mobilisation.

For ease of reference whilst compiling the Community Risk Register (CRR) it was agreed that a literal meaning would be adopted. Therefore the focus of the CRR is upon those hazards that may present risks that 'could impact emergency planning priorities over the next three years'.

The Guidance from the CCA 2004 recommends that the compilation of the CRR should go through six stages these are:

  1. Contextualisation (Background)
  2. Hazard review and allocation for assessment
  3. Risk analysis
  4. Risk evaluation
  5. Risk treatment
  6. Monitoring and reviewing

This report along with the first publication of the CRR will focus on steps 1 to 5. Following its first publication in November 2005, a multi agency Risk Assessment Working Group (RAWG) will regularly assess the register to ensure that it remains current and relevant. This will be done through regular pre-arranged meetings. Meetings of this group will also be held if new information comes to light that may change the likelihood or impact rating of an identified hazard. This group will continuously 'horizon scan' to ensure that any new hazards which may present themselves are included in the register at the earliest opportunity.

As a Category 1 responder, South Cambridgeshire District Council has worked with the Cambridgeshire multi agency emergency response team, to produce the latest version of the Community Risk Register as required by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. This register is available for the residents of the South Cambridgeshire district by following the link below: