Government announce new Security and Resilience Strategy
Category Business Continuity Management Briefing BCM - BCM & Risk Management - news - General
Government lays out plans to address national risks
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
Today Gordon Brown has set out plans to deal with national emergencies such as terror, disease pandemics and flooding.
In his statement to the House of Commons Mr Brown said the threats to Britain had "changed out of all recognition" in recent years and that strategy had to change accordingly.
The strategy assesses climate change and extreme weather as being as much of a risk as terrorism.
Commentators view the announcement as placing "an emphasis on the new, complex, interrelated nature of risk and the need for greater public awareness”
Security Minister Lord West, the former head of the Royal Navy, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "No country has ever done this before... We should be rather proud of that."
He added: "There are a lot of people out there who know a lot about these complicated areas that are very interdependent and need a co-ordinated response."
Lord West said it would be a "living document", which would be constantly updated. It would look at risks to the UK in a global context, he added.
The National Security Strategy also promises a new "national register of risks" available to the public. Local Risk Registers produced by Local and regional bodies have been available for some time but the National Register was previously classed as ‘Top Secret’
The prime minister also reported increases in the number of security service staff to 4,000 and that there would be new moves to secure the UK against cyber-attacks. A threat addressed by the head of the security Service Jonathon Evans in recent statements and reinforced by City Police Commissioner Mike Bowron at the recent Continuity Forum Security Briefing
He also promised a 1,000-strong civilian task force to be sent to trouble spots around the world to help including police, emergency services and judges who would be put on standby to help failing states and countries emerging from conflict or disaster.
He also stressed: "Our new approach to security also means improved local resilience against emergencies, building and strengthening local capacity to respond effectively in a range of circumstances from floods to possible terrorism incidents.
"This is not the old Cold War idea of civil defence but a new form of civil protection that combines expert preparedness for potential emergencies with greater local engagement of individuals and families themselves."
Modern threats are complex, interdependent and cut across traditional government departmental divides, challenging established interests and ways of doing things.
Globalisation has compounded many of these risks - with the growth in international travel, for instance, increasing the speed of flu pandemics spreading or facilitating greater migration of people away from areas suffering from climate change.
Drawing the National Strategy together, according to some close to the process, proved considerably harder than expected.
Critics had argued that the government has been too fixated on terrorism and that this presents the chance to rebalance the focus in the public mind about the risks and threats that are out there, ranging from climate change to flu pandemics to energy security to cyber-attacks.
But these risks and threats also include more traditional subjects like international organised crime and the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
The aim is in part to draw the public into the debate, as well as ensure more joined up government to tackle a range of issues which cut across traditional departmental divides.
Forum comment
We hope this new strategy will enable and direct the considerable skill available in the UK on the prevention of disruption from all the causes cited. Much of the issue to date in addressing the planning and preparation needs has been centered on both the financial and responsibility areas.
With the importance of proper preparation once again being stressed we are hoping that Government will realise that the cracks do exist in our response framework and a lot more focus and effort is needed to fill them. That said it is refreshing to see Resilience and Risk Management seen at the highest levels as vital. While we have yet to see the real details the Prime Minister has clearly set the scene for a more positive integrated capability to deal with for all major risks to be built.
Click HERE to download National Security Strategy Document
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