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The government has published a consultation paper looking at strengthening the relationship between Category 1 responders and the voluntary sector to boost preparedness and response to emergencies.
The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 requires police, fire and ambulance along with other responders who come under its Category 1 list to have regard to the activities of voluntary and community organisations when preparing for or responding to emergencies. This is a broad term and means that currently there is no obligation for these responders to embrace voluntary, community and faith (VCF) organisations in any meaningful way.
The experience of the response to the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 led the Grenfell Inquiry chair to recommend that regulation 23 of the 2004 Act be amended ‘to require Category 1 responders to establish and maintain partnerships with the voluntary, community and faith organisations in the areas in which they are responsible for preparing for and responding to emergencies.’ By requiring this in law, it strengthens what Category 1 responders must do and firms up the relationship with more certainty than before.
It is always the case that if legislation is changed and requires public bodies to do things they didn’t’ have to do before and weren’t funded to carry out, that the government must look at what it calls ‘new burdens’ to ensure they get the cash for the doing the work.
In the case of this proposed legislative change, the government consultation paper states that it has ‘to balance the benefits of structured collaboration with an understanding of the ability and resources of both statutory emergency responders and VCF organisations.’ The consultation document recognises that VCF organisations are diverse in size, reach and geography.
‘This consultation will gather views on whether amending an existing statutory duty is an effective and proportionate means to strengthen engagement, what the challenges and opportunities are, and whether there are alternative ways to achieve improved partnership working.’
The 33-question survey is mainly focused on VCF organisations and Category 1 responders with responses welcomed from organisations across the entire UK, although, the government notes that any future changes to Regulation 23 of the Civil Contingencies Act (2004) (Contingency Planning) Regulations 2005 may be limited to England.
The Strengthening Partnerships Consultation is open now and closes on 16 September.
For more background, read Emergency services should embrace the voluntary sector, says charity chief.
