Introduction
Following the publication by the Home Office of the Standards for Civil Protection in England and Wales in 1999, a report was submitted to Cabinet on 29 February, 2000 outlining the standards and the progress the Council had made in meeting the requirements.  It was agreed that an annual report on emergency planning would be prepared, the first of which was issued in 2001 and the second in 2002.  This third annual report aims to set out the work undertaken in the past year, building on the issues raised in previous years.     The Standards for Civil Protection in England and Wales   The 2000/1 and 2001/2 Annual Reports set out the progress made in reaching the necessary standards as set out in the Home Office guidance.  Many of the standards were already fully met, but others required additional work.  Given below is the progress made towards those other standards.     The progress made towards those other standards can be viewed in one of the tables listed at the bottom of this page.     Training   Compared to the extensive training programme undertaken in the previous year (in terms of number of courses run), 2002/3 was less intensive with a more focused approach.  A training course was run for Initial Contact Officers (staff on the emergency call-out rota), to update them on developments and revised procedures.  Subsequently a full day table-top exercise was organised where they were asked to set out in detail how they would respond to a series of four separate scenarios.  They found this to be extremely useful.
A refresher course was organised for Education Management Team and training continued for staff who would be expected to set up and run the emergency centre.  Eight separate events were arranged around emergency planning for schools.  The Emergency Planning Section continues to receive requests from other Authorities for advice on emergency planning for schools and ways in which training can be offered to head teachers.   Staff have also had the opportunity to attend courses at the Emergency Planning College, Easingwold, York.     Staff in the Section have also received in house training on data protection, staff appraisal requirements and sickness absence management       Exercises   Officers participated in an exercise to test the arrangements for and train staff in the operation of the newly designated West Yorkshire temporary mortuary facility.    Two multi-agency exercises were hosted by Kirklees Council which were attended by Wakefield officers.   The major exercise for the year was held on 10 April, 2003 at Woolley Hall College.  This was a strategic level, multi-agency exercise attended by over 50 delegates from many organisations within West Yorkshire including the emergency services, local authorities, Government Office, military, utilities, transport undertakers, health agencies and the Environment Agency.  Wakefield officers took a lead role in organising the event which was based on a "biological/terrorist" incident.  This scenario was chosen not only to exercise strategic level representatives, but to test and identify any potential gaps in organisations' arrangement to deal with chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats.       Emergencies Handbook   Progress has continued on the computerisation of the Emergencies Handbook.  Since the programme began in 1999, the number of handbook recipients who receive printed updates has reduced from 330 to just 4.  This has meant that significant financial savings have been made.  Wakefield was the first Local Authority in the area and, as far as we can ascertain, the first in the Country to strive for complete computerization.  With the success of the system, many other organisations have done likewise.   Not only have savings resulted, but with Emergency Planning staff maintaining the master copy of the Handbook on the main server, all authorised officers within the Council have access to a guaranteed fully updated Handbook during incidents.   A full review of the Handbook format is under way.     Geographic Information System (GIS)   During the last year work on including information on the GIS system has continued.  The data available now includes flood warning areas, potential flood areas, hazardous pipelines, COMAH (chemical site) consultation zones, properties included in the public buildings warning system and vulnerable premises.  Work will shortly be completed to include all designated rest centres throughout the area.     Intranet and Internet   We are now at the end of the second full year of operation of the Emergency Planning intranet/internet site.  The content has been updated at appropriate intervals and the number of questions from external organisations who have visited the site continues to increase.  With the recent introduction of new internet software, a revised system for including emergency information on the internet 24 hours a day is being devised.   The West Yorkshire Emergency Planning Officers' Forum now has its own website.  The site is being further developed by Bradford Council on behalf of the Forum.     Incidents   Fortunately, the number of incidents over the past 12 months have been few.  However, both during and out of office hours staff have had to deal with a variety of minor incidents including a tyre dump fire, suspected dumping of asbestos, factory fires involving suspected asbestos and flammable substances, isolated flooding, together with a number of requests for assistance or advice.  We have continued to receive flood warnings direct from the Environment Agency and weather warnings direct from the Met. Office.  During the last year there have been 40 weather warnings and 42 flood warnings.   Arrangements for the Council to deal with the implications of the Fire Service industrial action took a significant amount of time.  Assistance and advice was given to service areas including Social Services, Housing and Education regarding additional precautions to be taken during the times of industrial action.  Close working with the emergency services, the military and other organisations ensured that the action passed without serious incident within the District.     Working with Other Organisations   The West Yorkshire Emergency Planning Officers' Forum, which meets every 8 weeks, remains the major inter-agency working group for emergency planning.  Any matters of mutual concern are considered by the Forum to ensure that there is no duplication of effort.  Wakefield MDC provides the secretarial support for the Forum.   The Forum reports to the Senior Coordinating Group (SCG), which meets approximately twice a year depending on need.  The SCG considers matters of a strategic nature and recently has met to consider CBRN issues in particular.   The Government Office has recently established the Regional Resilience Forum which covers the Yorkshire and Humber areas.  John Foster, Wakefield's Chief Executive, is the local authority representative for West Yorkshire.   The Yorkshire and Humber Emergency Planning Trainers' Group meets as and when necessary to promote training events within the region.  The most recent event was held in York to consider information and communication technology applications in emergency planning and response and covered such matters as mobile communications, internet, computerized incident recording systems and GIS applications.   Outside the formal group working, a number of matters have involved joint working.  Emergency Planning staff worked closely with the Police, Leeds City Council and other West Yorkshire Authorities to draw up operational arrangements for the new West Yorkshire temporary mortuary facility in Morley.  The military are setting up the Civil Contingencies Reaction Force (CCRF) to make approximately 500 military personnel readily available to assist with the response to civil emergencies.  The Emergency Planning Manager acts as the first contact with the military on behalf of local authorities in West Yorkshire and took part in the first military training/exercise event in York.     Work Programme   The work programme for the remainder of 2003 is shown in one of the tables listed at the bottom of the page.     Review of Emergency Planning   In 2001 the Cabinet Office issued a consultation document on the future of emergency planning.  A comprehensive response was submitted by the Council on the numerous proposed changes to emergency arrangements.  Since that time, the Civil Contingencies Secretariat (CCS) within the Cabinet Office has been preparing for the proposed Civil Contingencies Bill which is due to be published in the summer of 2003.   The Bill is designed to replace outdated legislation such as the Civil Defence Act, 1948 which remains the foundation for emergency planning in this country.  It is expected that there will be a clear statutory duty for local authorities to carry out civil emergency planning.  Although this is already undertaken by local authorities, the statutory basis remains rooted in wartime emergency planning legislation.   The CCS have stated that…"the strategic aim of the Bill is to provide a lasting and flexible basis for enhancing UK resilience so work is focusing on a sustainable long term structure".   The bill will identify two categories of responders.  There will be those with a clear leadership, planning and response roles, such as the emergency services and local authorities, and those with a cooperation or support role.  The role of local civil protection committees, based on police areas, will be developed along with regional resilience groups.  These have already been established in West Yorkshire.   There is an ongoing review of emergency powers to make them more clear and useful, including declarations of states of emergency, along with human rights and devolution issues.   The CCS have stated that…" the new civil contingencies legislation will be introduced as soon as parliamentary time allows".       Further Information   Malcolm Wilcock,
Emergency Planning Manager, Resources Services, City of Wakefield Metropolitan District Council, County Hall, Wakefield, WF1 2QW.   Tel: (01924) 305048 Fax: (01924) 305214) Email: mwilcock@wakefield.gov.uk   June, 2003.