Flood aid to the civil community
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Initially the female in charge was a right PITA and needed seeing to.
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Like many things in the complex area I think there can be a lot of confusion, especially on funding.
There is something called the Bellwin Scheme that makes provision for the Local Authority to effectively 'claim back' from central government the costs incurred in emergency response. Included in the definition of emergency response is costs incurred from MACA
The reality is that Local Authorities and other Category 1 Responders will have a range of statutory requirements, many in fact. Of these will be their obligations under CCA 2004 but sitting right alongside will be vulnerable adults, social care, education and housing etc.
How do you prioritise?
The problem is a very simple one, in a world of competing demands and a funding landscape that basically says, if **** happens you can claim it all back (well, nearly), decisions are made, priorities assessed and civil resilience ends up somewhere that is not top of the list.
They are not being lazy or incompetent, simply making choices.
If Category 1 Responders call the MoD it is not an admission of failure in any way shape or form, it is simply and admission that the event has overwhelmed their ability to respond, the level of ability decided in conjunction with requirements for housing, looking after old people and everything else I mentioned. The Act does not say you must have ten million sandbags at 5 minutes notic eto move but lays down a planning framework and certain 'must haves and must do's'. Within this framework is space to allocate priority.
CCA 2004 was not introduced because the MoD were fed up with being used and abused, it was simply because the existing complex patchwork of legislation was not fit for purpose and the overall response to the foot and mouth, fuel protests and flooding in and around the early 2000's was frankly, woeful.
It therefore sought to put in place statutory obligations to drive behaviour, organisations in general only having to do what they have to do.
This resulted in a great deal of coordination and capability improvements in the whole responder community which meant, for example, the response to the 7/7 attacks was much smoother than it might have been only a few years earlier. It also resulted in a reduced reliance on the MoD, and rightly so, especially for pools of general unskilled or semi skilled labour.
Then for some inexplicable reason, after nearly half a decade of the MoD and other responders agreeing that the MoD should only be used for certain specialist functions or as an absolute last resort the Conservatives in opposition starting banging on about 'homeland resilience' and as this translated itself into SDSR 2010 the MoD reasserted its role in the civil resilience space.
Without of course, any planning or idea about what that actually meant, what impact undoing 6 years of solid progress by the civilian responders would have and how that would apply to future revisions of CCA 2004.
So for the current confusion, where I agree that a small group of RM dropping ready filled sandbags into place whilst contractors look on seems like tokenism at best, might be an idea to look somewhere other than the local authority for blame.
As others have said, a very complex subject.
A couple of links to add to those already posted
The Bellwin Scheme
CCA 2004 - Guidance
CCA 2004 - The Act Itself
Just to close this one off
Avon and Somerset Risk Register
Last updated 2011
There is something called the Bellwin Scheme that makes provision for the Local Authority to effectively 'claim back' from central government the costs incurred in emergency response. Included in the definition of emergency response is costs incurred from MACA
The reality is that Local Authorities and other Category 1 Responders will have a range of statutory requirements, many in fact. Of these will be their obligations under CCA 2004 but sitting right alongside will be vulnerable adults, social care, education and housing etc.
How do you prioritise?
The problem is a very simple one, in a world of competing demands and a funding landscape that basically says, if **** happens you can claim it all back (well, nearly), decisions are made, priorities assessed and civil resilience ends up somewhere that is not top of the list.
They are not being lazy or incompetent, simply making choices.
If Category 1 Responders call the MoD it is not an admission of failure in any way shape or form, it is simply and admission that the event has overwhelmed their ability to respond, the level of ability decided in conjunction with requirements for housing, looking after old people and everything else I mentioned. The Act does not say you must have ten million sandbags at 5 minutes notic eto move but lays down a planning framework and certain 'must haves and must do's'. Within this framework is space to allocate priority.
CCA 2004 was not introduced because the MoD were fed up with being used and abused, it was simply because the existing complex patchwork of legislation was not fit for purpose and the overall response to the foot and mouth, fuel protests and flooding in and around the early 2000's was frankly, woeful.
It therefore sought to put in place statutory obligations to drive behaviour, organisations in general only having to do what they have to do.
This resulted in a great deal of coordination and capability improvements in the whole responder community which meant, for example, the response to the 7/7 attacks was much smoother than it might have been only a few years earlier. It also resulted in a reduced reliance on the MoD, and rightly so, especially for pools of general unskilled or semi skilled labour.
Then for some inexplicable reason, after nearly half a decade of the MoD and other responders agreeing that the MoD should only be used for certain specialist functions or as an absolute last resort the Conservatives in opposition starting banging on about 'homeland resilience' and as this translated itself into SDSR 2010 the MoD reasserted its role in the civil resilience space.
Without of course, any planning or idea about what that actually meant, what impact undoing 6 years of solid progress by the civilian responders would have and how that would apply to future revisions of CCA 2004.
So for the current confusion, where I agree that a small group of RM dropping ready filled sandbags into place whilst contractors look on seems like tokenism at best, might be an idea to look somewhere other than the local authority for blame.
As others have said, a very complex subject.
A couple of links to add to those already posted
The Bellwin Scheme
CCA 2004 - Guidance
CCA 2004 - The Act Itself
Just to close this one off
Avon and Somerset Risk Register
Last updated 2011
Last edited by Think Defence; 10th Feb 2014 at 21:52.
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Iraq Veteran (but then who isnt) is in charge.
UK floods: Iraq war veteran Maj Gen Patrick Sanders leads military flood response - Telegraph
Politically savvy. Why not a logistical expert though?
Politically savvy. Why not a logistical expert though?
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Cross county, cross country co-operation
Think Defence - good informative post, thank you.
One question though. In the USA whenever there is a major disaster, natural or otherwise (9/11) the response by the state government invariably is met quickly with a Federal offer of additional support. Including mobilisation of the National Guard and other Federal assets.
I appreciate we do things differently here but surely an SOP response might be to mobilise the TA in the same way that the National Guard is called out not least of all to protect the homes and properties that have been evacuated and to deter looting.
Likewise, central government can step in to offer additional support to local authorities with release of "reserve" funds. Central govt does this all the time when there is a natural disaster as after the Philippines cyclone or after the earthquake in Haiti. It's time now for central govt to step in with additional resources and to co-ordinate a national response. In the private sector the electricity companies mobilise out-of-area linesmen (even from Northern Ireland) to help rapidly repair damaged lines in England. Why is it that local authorities not affected by recent floods can't send help to those that are?
MB
One question though. In the USA whenever there is a major disaster, natural or otherwise (9/11) the response by the state government invariably is met quickly with a Federal offer of additional support. Including mobilisation of the National Guard and other Federal assets.
I appreciate we do things differently here but surely an SOP response might be to mobilise the TA in the same way that the National Guard is called out not least of all to protect the homes and properties that have been evacuated and to deter looting.
Likewise, central government can step in to offer additional support to local authorities with release of "reserve" funds. Central govt does this all the time when there is a natural disaster as after the Philippines cyclone or after the earthquake in Haiti. It's time now for central govt to step in with additional resources and to co-ordinate a national response. In the private sector the electricity companies mobilise out-of-area linesmen (even from Northern Ireland) to help rapidly repair damaged lines in England. Why is it that local authorities not affected by recent floods can't send help to those that are?
MB
