The Act splits local responders into two categories, imposing a different set of duties on each. Category 1 responders are those organisations at the core of emergency response (e.g. emergency services, local authorities, Primary Care Trusts), and are subject to the full range of civil protection duties.
The Government remains on track to bring the bulk of the duties in Part 1 of the Act fully into force in November 2005.
Implementation timetable
The Act requires the Government to seek the consent of the National Assembly for Wales to the revised package of Regulations and statutory guidance and to consult the Scottish Executive; this process will take place during May and June. The Government has worked closely with colleagues in all of the devolved administrations throughout the policy development process, and do not expect to make substantial further changes to the documents. Local responders should therefore continue to drive forward their implementation programmes using the revised draft Regulations and statutory guidance published today as the basis for this work.
The Strategic Emergency Plan is a comprehensive overview of London's co-ordinated response to a catastrophic incident.
It comprises synopses of the key plans on which London's resilience is based - for example the Command and Control Protocol, the Communication Protocol, the Mass Fatalities plan, the large-scale evacuation framework and the Site Clearance plan.
