Local Resilience Forums

The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (“the Act”) establishes a consistent level of civil protection across the UK. The Act provides a basic framework defining what tasks should be performed and how cooperation between services should be conducted.

Under The Act Yorkshire Ambulance Service is classed as a Category One responder. Category One responders are defined as the main organisations likely to be involved in most emergencies at a local level for example blue light services.

The Act also defines Category Two responders as those organisations that would be heavily involved in some emergencies e.g. utilities and transport companies.

The main civil protection duties that fall on category One responders are:

  • Risk Assessment
  • Business Continuity Management
  • Emergency Planning
  • Maintaining public awareness and arrangement to warn, inform and advise the public
  • Cooperation
  • Information Sharing

These duties aim to cement local level partnership working between Category One and Category Two organisations in support of Category One responders performing all their main duties effectively.

The Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) are where Category One and Two responders come together. They are based on Police Service boundaries so Yorkshire Ambulance Service is represented at North Yorkshire, Humberside, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire LRFs.

One of their main tasks is to collectively assess the civil protection risks to the local community both collectively and as individual responders and then produce emergency plans accordingly to mitigate those risks. The LRF should also be cognisant of national risk assessments carried out by government bodies.

South Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum www.southyorksprepared.org.uk/

West Yorkshire Resilience Forum www.westyorkshire.police.uk/advice/emergency-plans/west-yorkshire-resilience-forum/west-yorkshire-resilience-forum

North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum www.emergencynorthyorks.gov.uk/

Humber Local Resilience Forum www.heps.gov.uk/humber-local-resilience-forum