Local Authorities, emergency services and other responders are required by law to form Local Resilience Forums (based on police force areas) to jointly plan for, respond to and recover from emergencies.
Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) are multi agency partnerships made up of representatives from category 1 responders. The LRFs are supported by the category 2 responders and also work with the military and voluntary sectors. LRFs aim to plan and prepare for localised incidents and catastrophic emergencies. They work to identify potential risks and produce emergency plans to either prevent or mitigate the impact of any incident on their local communities.
However, developing the ability to help each other at a local level will assist if the emergency services are overloaded in the initial response. It could also lessen the impact of the emergency on the community.
The Dyfed Powys Local Resilience Forum covers the counties of Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Powys. The Chief Constable of Dyfed Powys Police chairs the lead group. Reporting to the DPLRF is a variety of groups and sub groups established to undertake specific activities. Officers from the Local Authorities are represented on each of the groups. Local Resilience Forums are not a statutory body.
Risk Assessment – Community Risk Register Category 1 and 2 responders have produced a community risk register covering the area of Dyfed Powys. The register is a list of risks that may cause an emergency in the Dyfed Powys area. Inclusion of a risk in a community risk register doesn’t mean it will happen. It means it is recognised as a possibility and organisations have made arrangements to plan for response to the incident and reduce its impact. The Dyfed Powys risk assessments are reviewed annually, or as required if sooner, and takes account of both national guidance combined with local knowledge and expertise across our area. This information is then given to the LRF professional partners to assess, discuss and act upon to improve our capability to respond to any form of disruptive challenge.
The key risks include:
Pandemic Flu
Flooding
Severe Weather
Loss of infrastructure
Pollution
Animal disease
Industrial incidents
Transport incidents
Emergency Planning
Emergency planning is a comprehensive, multi-agency process to identify and assess relevant risks, to plan and prepare, to train and exercise, to mitigate the effects and respond effectively to incidents, when they happen. Emergency planning is undertaken at county, regional and national levels. Emergency response plans are produced at local resilience forum level and by each responder agencies to describe arrangements to respond to emergencies and/or specific risks as outlined in the community risk register. Officers are trained in the content of the plans and a series of exercises (multi agency and individual agency) are regularly organised to test the response. Following training, exercises and incidents, plans are reviewed based on debrief and lessons learnt to ensure the response to future emergencies is more effective.
Business continuity
Business continuity is about planning to mitigate the effects of a potential disruption to vital public services, so that they can continue to be delivered during an emergency. Category 1 responders have a legal duty to have business continuity arrangements in place for their organisation, sharing best practice. Whatever the incident, the local authority should strive as far as reasonable for “business as usual” in service delivery which is detailed in their Business Continuity Plan (BCP). This also involves ensuring that critical suppliers can still deliver in an emergency.
Warning & Informing
Arrangements are in place on a multi agency basis and within each organisation to warn, inform and advise the public before and during an emergency. Documents and links have been placed on local authority’s websites giving information to the public about emergency planning and preparedness. During an incident, the local authority will work with relevant multi agency partners to ensure a common message is disseminated to the public and media on the response and its impact. Elected Members will have a role to play acting as a liaison between their communities and the council.
Community Resilience
In addition to formal statutory duties, there is an increasing recognition that responders (local authorities especially) need to draw on the resources and abilities of their communities as part of emergency preparedness and response. This is known as community resilience and can be defined as “communities and individuals harnessing resources and expertise to help themselves prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies, in a way that complements the work of the emergency responders”. Elected Members can play a key role in encouraging communities to become more resilient notably through the production of community emergency plans. By becoming more resilient, individuals and communities can supplement the work of local responders and reduce the impact of the emergency both in the short and long term.