Staffordshire County Council. Civil Contingencies Policy

Transcription

1 Staffordshire County Council Civil Contingencies Policy Version 1 September 2012

2 Staffordshire County Council s Civil Contingencies Policy 1.1 Introduction The County Council aims to protect the wellbeing and safety of its community, employees, assets and key stakeholders. This policy outlines the County Council s approach to ensuring it has effective arrangements in place for responding to and recovering from major incidents. The County Council will also ensure that it is able to continue to provide critical services, during a disruptive event. In doing so, the County Council will ensure that it meets its duties under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, the Flood & Water Management Act 2010 and the Health & Social Care Act To meet its aims the County Council will: Safeguard people and assets; Maintain business critical services; and Restore full services as soon as is practicably possible. 1.2 Obligations The County Council will fulfil its duties through the following activities: Risk Assessment The County Council will undertake risk analyses of the hazards likely to affect Staffordshire and participate in maintaining a Community Risk Register. This will inform response and recovery and business continuity planning relevant to the County Council. Planning The County Council will put in place response & recovery arrangements and business continuity plans to assist in responding and recovering from an event which affects the day-day County Council s services. The County Council will ensure sufficient resources are made available to produce and maintain these arrangements / plans and deliver effective training and exercise programmes to provide assurance that they are adequate and effective. Communicating with the Public The County Council will provide information to the public to inform them about civil contingencies matters and maintain arrangements to warn, inform and advise the public in the event of a major incident. Partnership Working The County Council will co-operate and share information with other responders, in order to enhance co-ordination and efficiency, ensure that plans are robust and effective, and that they integrate with other responders plans. Promoting Business Continuity The County Council will promote business continuity and provide advice on producing Business Continuity Plans (BCPs) to local businesses and voluntary organisations. Priority Outcomes - Community Safety The County Council has strong values around serving its communities, so that those communities have confidence in the arrangements in place. We will minimise risks, prioritise work and direct resources, in order to ensure that Staffordshire s communities are as safe as is practicably possible. Page 2 of 6

3 Responsible for Staffordshire County Council s Civil Contingencies Policy 1.3 Accountability The table below shows the key groups and individuals and their areas of responsibility: Lead> Cabinet Senior Leadership Team (SLT) Lead Director Policy Strategy Oversee Delivery Civil Contingencies Working Group (CCWG) Tactical Delivery SLT Resources Sponsor Compliance -ship Lead Member Lead Director Leadership Critical for Civil Services Contingencies Lead Member for Flooding CCU Shared Services Service Level Agreement (SLA) Representation on the Staffordshire Resilience Forum (SRF) / Strategic Coordinating Group (SCG) Member Liaison Lead Director CCWG Risk: Ownership & Accountability Day-to-day Delivery Incident Response Guide Response & Recovery Handbook Business Continuity Management Handbook Risk: Monitoring / Updating / Escalating Incident Management Service Lead Officers BCPs Staffordshire Civil Contingencies Unit (CCU) Delivery of the CCU element of the SLA Training & Exercises Operational Support Document maintenance Information Sharing Promotion of Business Continuity (in support of SCC) Update to Chair of CCWG / Lead Director Update to Lead Member(s) Update to Chief Executive and SLT Page 3 of 6

4 Staffordshire County Council s Civil Contingencies Policy 1.4 Key Document Framework The following chart shows the key internal documents that come under this Policy: Civil Contingencies Policy Response and Recovery Handbook Business Continuity Management Handbook Incident Response Guide Business Continuity Plans These County Council documents are supported by the Multi-Agency Major Incident Handbook, which shows how the County Council fits into the wider multi-agency structure for responding to a major incident. 1.5 Shared Service Delivery The County Council is accountable for the delivery of its statutory responsibilities under the Civil Contingencies Act, the Flood & Water Management Act and the Health & Social Care Act. The CCU supports the delivery of these duties under a shared service arrangement. The County Council commits to fund the CCU and provide additional seconded staff, to a level commensurate to meet, and continue to meet, its statutory requirements in full. 1.6 Performance Monitoring and Reporting The CCU is maintains a comprehensive work programme and updates the County Council on its delivery as follows: The Chief Executive, on a quarterly basis; The lead Elected Member for Civil Contingencies, when requested; The lead Elected Member for Highways and Flooding, when requested; The Lead Director responsible for Civil Contingencies, when requested; The Chair of the CCWG, on a monthly basis; Page 4 of 6

5 Staffordshire County Council s Civil Contingencies Policy The CCWG, on a monthly basis. 1.7 Multi-Agency Meetings The County Council commits to support wider multi-agency working in order to promote a joined-up, partnership approach to resilience in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent. It therefore supports the following meetings: Staffordshire Resilience Forum (SRF): Chief Executive and Lead Elected member; SRF Operations Meeting (SRF Ops): Chair of the CCWG; Civil Contingencies Strategic Leads Meeting: Chair of the CCWG; Risk Assessment Working Group (RAWG): Health & Safety Manager; Information Sharing Forum (ISF): Open invitation to all staff; Task & Finish Projects: Specialist staff to support on request of CCU and/or CCWG; Strategic Assessment Meeting (SAM) / Strategic Coordinating Group (SCG) / Tactical Coordinating Group (TCG) / Recovery Coordinating Group and Sub-Groups dependant on the nature and scope of an incident. 1.8 Business Critical Services The County Council will identify, and maintain a schedule of, its business critical services and ensure that each one is covered by an effective Business Continuity Plan. The County Council s definition of a business critical service is one which: i. provides a vital life-saving and / or health function; and / or: ii. is provided as a legal / regulatory requirement, and / or is vital in maintaining the financial stability of the County Council, and / or is vital in maintaining the County Council s reputation (public perception). In addition, only these services which would need to be substantially restored within 1 month are deemed to be business critical. Business critical services are also deemed to include those corporate support services, which are essential to the maintenance of other business critical services. This includes, but is not limited to, property, staffing, ICT and supplies. 1.9 Publication of this Policy This Civil Contingencies Policy will be placed on the Intranet as a key corporate policy document Review & Revision of this Policy The Senior Leadership Team will review this Civil Contingencies Policy on an annual basis, making minor amendments, as appropriate. Any fundamental policy changes will be submitted to the Cabinet for approval. Page 5 of 6

6 This plan has been written by the Staffordshire Civil Contingencies Unit in collaboration with the Staffordshire Resilience Forum. Staffordshire Civil Contingencies Unit Stafford Fire Station Beaconside Stafford ST18 0DD Tel: