Civil Contingencies Act 2004

The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament that gives the British government wide-ranging powers in an emergency. It is designed to replace former Civil Defence and Emergency Powers legislation of the 20th century.

Background to the Act
The Act replaces two strands of former legislation. The first strand was the Civil Defence legislation, represented primarily by the Civil Defence Act 1948 and Civil Defence Act (Northern Ireland) 1950, which provided requirements on how public bodies should prepare for potential attacks by foreign powers. The second strand was the Emergency Powers legislation, represented primarily by the Emergency Powers Act 1920 and Emergency Powers Act (Northern Ireland) 1926, which granted extra powers to the UK government in the event that services deemed essential in the 1920s were threatened.

Neither strand had seen any significant amendments in a number of years and, unfortunately, were not able to cope in the event of domestic threats to services – such as the fuel protests of 2000 – or natural threats like the mass flooding in 2000 and the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in 2001.

In the wake of these three events, the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, announced a formal review into emergency planning arrangements. The review included a public consultation exercise, which generally supported the Government's conclusion that existing legislation was no longer adequate and that new legislation was required. A draft Bill was scrutinised in detail by the Joint Committee on the Draft Civil Contingencies Bill, Draft Civil Contingencies Bill (2002-03 HC 1074, HL 184) which was very influential in shaping the legislation but several proposals of which (especially for a new agency) were rejected. The proposed new legislation was laid before Parliament, and on 18 November 2004 it received Royal Assent, becoming the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.

The Act guides upon the creation of a Local Resilience Forum to consider such matters within an existing police force boundary and requires responders to undertake risk assessments, maintain them in a Community Risk Register and to publish this register. Risks in this context are those that could result in a major emergency. This Community Risk Register is the first step in the emergency planning process; it ensures that the plans that are developed are proportionate to the risk.

The Act
The Act is divided into three parts:
 * Part 1 defines the obligations of certain organisations to prepare for various types of emergencies.
 * Part 2 provides additional powers for the government to use in the event of a large scale emergency.
 * Part 3 provides supplementary legislation in support of the first two parts.

Part 1: Local Arrangements for Civil Protection
Part 1 of the Act places a legal obligation upon emergency services and local authorities (defined as "Category 1 responders" under the Act) to assess the risk of, plan, and exercise for emergencies, as well as undertaking Business continuity Management. Cat. 1 Responders are also responsible for warning and informing the public in relation to emergencies. Finally, local authorities are required to provide business continuity advice to local businesses. It also places legal obligations for increased co-operation and information sharing between different emergency services and also to non-emergency services that might have a role in an emergency such as electric companies (non-emergency services are defined as “Category 2 responders” under the Act).

Part 2: Emergency Powers
The second part of the Act provides that temporary emergency regulations are normally made by the Queen through Order-in-Council or by a Minister of the Crown if arranging for an Order-in-Council would not be possible without serious delay. Such regulations are limited in duration to 30 days, unless Parliament votes to extend this period before it expires. The only Act of Parliament which may not be amended by emergency regulations is the Human Rights Act 1998. There was an attempt by Conservative and Liberal Democrat peers to add a number of other key constitutional laws to the exemption list during the Bill stage, but this was unsuccessful. The laws they tried to protect from emergency regulation were:


 * Habeas Corpus Act 1679
 * Bill of Rights 1689
 * The clause in the Parliament Act 1911 which limits the duration of a Parliament to five years, which was in itself a partial reversal of the term's increase provided in the Septennial Act 1715 from three to seven years
 * Act of Settlement 1700
 * House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975
 * Life Peerages Act 1958
 * House of Lords Act 1999

The introduction of the Act comes with increased funding for emergency planning in the United Kingdom to help organisations comply with the Act and brings emergency planning funding more on par with European levels.

Category 1 & 2 responders
Category 1 and Category 2 responders are organisations defined in the Act as having responsibilities for carrying out the legislation.

Each responder has an emergency planning officer (sometimes called a civil protection officer, civil contingencies officer, resilience officer, or risk manager) who is usually responsible for ensuring their organisation is in compliance with the Act and sharing information with other responders. The usual way of checking compliance is by regularly testing plans by reviews or exercises.

Category 1 responders
Category 1 responders are known as core responders - they include the usual "blue-light" emergency services as well as others:


 * Police forces, including the British Transport Police
 * Fire services
 * Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom
 * HM Coastguard
 * Local authorities
 * Port Health Authorities
 * Primary Care Trusts, Acute Trusts, Foundation Trusts (and Welsh equivalents), Health Protection Agency
 * Environment Agency and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency

Category 2 responders
Category 2 responders are key co-operating responders that act in support of the Category 1 responders. Category 2 responders are mostly utility companies and transport organisations:

Utilities
 * Electricity distributors and transmitters
 * Gas distributors
 * Water and sewerage undertakers
 * Telephone service providers (fixed and mobile)

Transport
 * Network Rail
 * Train Operating Companies (passenger and freight)
 * London Underground
 * Transport for London
 * Highways Agency
 * Airport operators
 * Harbour authorities

Others
 * Strategic Health Authorities
 * Health and Safety Executive

Comment
According to the leading commentary on the Act, by Clive Walker and Jim Broderick, The Civil Contingencies Act 2004: Risk, Resilience and the Law in the United Kingdom (372 + xxxviipp, Oxford University Press, 2006)

'The Government’s handling of risks and emergencies in recent years has failed to inspire public confidence. In a range of crises, from the Foot and Mouth outbreak through to the grounds for war in Iraq, official predictions or capabilities have been found wanting. The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 tenders reassurance by the promise of systemic planning and activity in civil resilience, though defence lies beyond its scope. The wide-ranging powers in the Act have the capability of delivering on the promise. But, as shall be revealed in this book, efforts will be hampered because the legislation is hesitant and uneven.'