The 'Civil Contingencies Secretariat', created in July
2001, is the department of the British
Cabinet Office responsible for
emergency planning in the
UK. The role of the secretariat is to ensure the United Kingdom’s resilience against disruptive challenge, and to do this by working with others to anticipate, assess, prevent, prepare, respond and recover. Until its creation in
2001, emergency planning in Britain was the responsibility of the
Home Office.
Bruce Mann is the current head of the secretariat. He reports directly to the Cabinet Office's
Security and Intelligence Co-ordinator, currently Sir
Richard Mottram.
The Secretariat is organised into three divisions: Assessment; Operations; and Policy.
The
Central Government War Headquarters, at
Corsham,
Wiltshire, was the site of the highest level administration in the event of a catastrophic emergency. Since 1991 this has been run down, and is now on a care and maintenance basis. At a lower level,
Regional Emergency Committees, and (in the event of nuclear war) Regional Commissioners, provided the apparatus of constitutional government.
The Civil Contingencies Secretariat provides information to the public through its website, 'UK Resilience'.
Head of the Civil Contingencies Secretariat
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Bruce Mann 2004-
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Susan Scholefield,
CMG 2002-2004
★
Mike Granatt,
CB 2001-2002
Until 2001 the
Home Office carried out emergency preparedness planning through its
Emergency Planning Division, which in turn replaced the
Home Defence and Emergency Services Division. From 1935 to 1971 a separate department, called the
Civil Defence Department (in the early years the
Air Raids Precautions Department,
Ministry of Home Security), existed.
See also
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Civil Contingencies Committee
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Emergency Planning College
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CONOPS
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Lead Government Department principle
★
Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre
External links
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UK Resilience - website of the Civil Contingencies Secretariat
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Cabinet office web page for the Civil Contingencies Secretariat
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The mandarins planning how we would cope again Jo Revill