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Civil Contingencies Secretariat

Head of the Civil Contingencies Secretariat

Bruce Mann

What are our key responsibilities?

The Civil Contingencies Secretariat (CCS) guides and co-ordinates the activity taking place across government departments and wider stakeholders to ensure that the UK is resilient to any event which could pose a disruptive challenge to the welfare and day to day activities of the UK. This could include the impacts of natural hazards such as flooding and foot and mouth disease, major accidents as well as the consequences of terrorist activity.

The main areas of activity are:

• Co-ordinating assessment of risks which could pose a disruptive challenge to the UK through Horizon Scanning and a periodic UK Risk Assessment.
• Co-ordinating development of generic capabilities to deal with the consequences of disruptive challenges through a cross-Government Capabilities Programme.
• Implementing legislation to support civil resilience in the UK.
• Providing a centre of excellence for training on Emergency Planning at our Emergency Planning College.
• During a crisis , co-ordinating consequence management to support the Government's response.

We also provide the public with factual information about preparing for emergencies [External website].

Roles and Co-ordination

UK Resilience

Civil Resilience is the responsibility of many Government Departments and their Agencies as well as stakeholders in the Emergency Services, Voluntary Sector and key industries such as utilities and transport providers.

CCS maintain the UK Resilience website [External website] for their use with useful information and guidance. This includes explanation of the roles of other Government Departments in emergencies.

Cabinet Committees

The CCS provides the secretariat to the official and Ministerial committees which oversee the policy and communications work on resilience (see the current list of Cabinet Committees).

Departments and key stakeholders who play a role in resilience are represented on the committees and provide submissions on particular issues as necessary. In addition to drafting papers for the issues on which CCS leads, the secretariat manages committee business:

• recording conclusions from Committees
• following up actions and decisions from Cabinet Committees
• commissioning papers and briefing for Cabinet Committees
• briefing and drafting advice for Committee Chairs
• chairing meetings of official-level interdepartmental groups to help steer policy agendas
• closely monitoring policy areas and offering strategic advice

The following links give more detailed information on Cabinet Committees and handling Cabinet Committee business:

• Cabinet Committees
• Handling Cabinet Committee business