Emergency events are indiscriminate. They can threaten human welfare and damage the environment. This can lead to disrupted council services, utilities and everyday normal life.
The Cornwall Council Emergency Response Framework provides guidance to the Council. This will be on the actions to be taken when advised of an emergency, whether actual or potential.
This will allow the Council to effectively respond to and manage a civil emergency. It could affect the county and/or affect the Council’s most important public services.
Responsibilities of the Council during emergencies include:
- internal and external communications
- the provision of welfare and humanitarian assistance to those affected
- expert and technical advice and support
- internal service support
- community engagement
- set up working groups to manage different aspects of the response to an emergency
Priority Service Business Continuity Plans
A priority service is a service which must not fail.
It is imperative that priority services have a business continuity plan. This ensures they can maintain or reinstate the most important parts of their service as soon as possible.
Testing business continuity plans - Exercises
To ensure that business continuity plans are fit for purpose they need to be tested. This is undertaken through exercises using a variety of scenarios. This enables services to test their continuity arrangements . Participants are then asked to consider what they have learned from the exercise. And to put forward recommendations on what went well and improvements required. Services will then put in place the recommendations, where possible.
You may wish to view the Lexicon of UK Civil Protection Terminology. This is a glossary of terms used in emergency response, management and recovery.
