UK Counter-Terrorism and Resilience

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
Level 4, Zone K Main Building, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2HB
Dear Mr Brennan, Thank you for your request submitted to the Ministry of Defence under the Freedom of Information Act on 12 June 2010 in relation to continuity of government. Your request has been passed to me in the Operations Directorate to answer. In all, you ask six questions and my response to each is detailed below: Question 1: A core responsibility of any Government is the security of its sovereign territory and population. In the UK, there is a distinction between the defence of the UK against military threats and UK civil protection as established in statute by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and enabled through the cross-Government Department and Inter-Agency Emergency Management approach. The UK Government is committed to, and continually improving, the countrys ability to respond to disruptive challenges at the national, regional and local levels. The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 provides the core framework for civil protection; it defines how organisations, particularly local responders, prepare for emergencies. The Home Secretary has overall Ministerial responsibility for the safety and security of the UK population and, therefore, is responsible for emergency preparedness and response. Ministers in Lead Government Departments are responsible for contingency planning and response within their specific areas. Although the Devolved Administrations are responsible for coordinating many aspects of resilience within their respective jurisdictions, they work closely with the Cabinet Office to ensure a coherent approach. Not all emergencies are foreseeable, but for those that are, the Government aim is to identify and mitigate risk well in advance. Horizon scanning and national risk assessment seek to identify future disruptive challenges in order to prioritise risks, ensure preparedness and inform capability investment. The Governments capability programme seeks to ensure that a robust infrastructure and response is in place to contain and deal rapidly, effectively and flexibly with the consequences of disruptive activity. The programme includes all elements required in any response to an emergency, such as planning, equipment, people, training and logistics. The overall objective, at all levels of government, is to enhance resilience through the application of the Integrated Emergency Management approach. The Cabinet Offices Civil Contingencies Secretariat provides the central focus for cross-Government Department (including the Ministry of Defence) and inter-agency coordination that enables the UK to deal effectively with disruptive challenges and crises. The definitive repository for publications regarding resilience in the UK is the Cabinet Office web site (www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ukresilience.aspx) and you may find it to be a useful source of further information. Question 2: Firstly, neither the UK Government nor the Ministry of Defence has any plans to establish internment camps. Secondly, Im afraid that the meaning of the second part of your question on what plans the Ministry of Defence has for engaging the British people should the proverbial hit the fan is not completely clear to me. The Government believes communicating with the public

about emergencies is essential. The Cabinet Office website (www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk) provides information on how organisations should go about raising public awareness of risks of emergencies and warning them and providing information and advice at the time of an emergency. If this is not the information you are looking and can provide me with further detail I will do my best to assist. Question 3: I understand that there are no EU-wide plans for continuity of government. Europa (www.europa.eu) is the official web site of the European Union and it provides access to information published by all EU institutions, agencies and bodies. You may find it to be a useful source of further information on EU continuity of government plans and related topics. Question 4: There is one military officer currently working with the US Coastguard and there are a number of military personnel embedded with the US Armed Services or working as Liaison Officers, whose parent units or organisations might occasionally be called upon to work alongside the Department of Homeland Security and/or the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Question 5: The Ministry of Defence has not made any plans with the US Administration for the international management of Federal Emergency Management Agency camps. Question 6: The UK military does not undertake policing duties in the UK and would only provide support to the civil authorities on receipt of a formal request. Whenever military personnel are deployed to support any of the Civil Authorities in the UK, they are required at all times to act within the law. More detail on the specific legislation pertaining to the use of the military personnel in support of the Civil Authorities can be found in Joint Doctrine Publication 02, Operations in the UK: The Defence Contribution to Resilience, which is publicly available on the internet at: www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/132712/defenceconrtibution1.pdf. If you are not satisfied with this response or you wish to complain about any aspect of the handling of your request, then you should contact me in the first instance. If informal resolution is not possible and you are still dissatisfied then you may apply for an independent internal review by contacting the Head of Corporate Information, 6th Floor, MOD Main Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail xxxxxx@xxx.xx ). Please note that any request for an internal review must be made within 40 working days of the date on which the attempt to reach informal resolution has come to an end. If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may take your complaint to the Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act. Please note that the Information Commissioner will not investigate your case until the MOD internal review process has been completed. Further details of the role and powers of the Information Commissioner can be found on the Commissioner's website, http://www.ico.gov.uk. Yours sincerely,

Alan Davidson