The Civil Contingencies Secretariat (CCS) is part of the Cabinet Office. It was established in July 2001, and reports to the Prime Minister through the Security and Intelligence Co-ordinator & Permanent Secretary to the Cabinet Office. It was set up to improve the resilience of Central Government and the UK. Resilience is defined as our ability to handle disruptive challenges that can lead to or result in crisis.
Like all Cabinet Office Secretariats, it supports Ministers collectively. Specifically, it services the Civil Contingencies Committee, chaired by the Home Secretary, which is concerned with managing and exercising arrangements to handle individual crises as they arise. One of our most senior Business Continuity specialists was engaged as Assistant Director in the CCS to support an extensive work programme which included the following objectives:
- To create a central exercise programme co-ordinated by the Exercise Working Party (EWP).
- To establish a project to co-ordinate departmental business plans to ensure continuity of government.
- To implement a programme of central government exercises.
- To create a central crisis manual with framework procedures.
- To develop scenario and plan gaming techniques.
Strategic Considerations
This was a large project designed to develop an integrated resilient approach to dealing with domestic disruptive challenges for the central government crisis response machinery. There were many interdependent tasks including the development of crisis response procedures, the design of a crisis management co-ordination centre, organisational continuity planning, scenario development, and testing and validating procedures and plans against a wide selection of possible disruptive challenges. All these activities and tasks had to be addressed rapidly and in most cases concurrently. The project was conducted under regular scrutiny by public bodies and committees.
Work Programme
The size and sensitivity of the programme of works, plus the other factors mentioned above created a complex project to provide simplistic deliverables. There were both political and public pressures to deliver quick solutions to an uncertain and unverifiable set of circumstances. Planning assumptions had to be developed on worst case scenarios, and organisations had to be kept informed of this method throughout.
The fundamental concept of building resilience encompasses a range of issues; training, planning, abilities and resources, collection and assessment of information, co-ordination, and co-operation. None of these issues could be addressed in isolation because of complex interdependencies.
Critical to the project was early engagement with all government departments. A strong working relationship with them was crucial in order to understand the current in-place procedures and arrangements, to look at and further develop best practice as a result of experience dealing with terrorism.
Results
Our consultant was involved on this assignment for three years and the major achievements during that period are outlined in this section:
- Development and implementation of CCS operating procedures for the Secretariat’s role as lead organisation for co-ordinating cross government response to disruptive challenges. Organisation of a central exercise to verify the procedures.
- Assumed the role of Head of the CCS Crisis Management Unit co-ordinating the Government Departments’ operational response to the Fire Fighters dispute.
- Provided assistance to other Government Departments in exercising their contingency plans in both planning and conduct of the exercise. These included:
- BIS- exercising emergency response to incidents in the Oil and Gas industry, and nuclear industry.
- DEFRA- exercising central foot and mouth contingency plans, and flood management emergency response plans.
- Government Office for London- an exercise to validate contingency plans for central response to both major and catastrophic incidents in London.
- MOD- exercise to test local and national contingency plans in response to a nuclear accident.
- HO- assisted with a counter terrorist exercise providing the link for co-ordinating central government consequence management response.
- Development and implementation of a system for tabletop scenario led discussions to assist CCS and government departments’ contingency planning process. Two examples of the adoption of this system are:
- A national flooding tabletop scenario led discussion to assist DEFRA’s Flood Management Division in developing a National Flood Framework Plan.
- A CCS tabletop to look at possible domestic impacts, the current assessed risk and capability gaps as a result of conflict in Iraq
- Setting up of the cross government Exercise Working Party to develop a central exercise programme, a central government exercise, co-ordinating and assisting departmental exercises, setting exercise standards for planning and conduct of exercises, and recording lessons learnt.