To ask His Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to the future arrangements for Local Resilience Forums in the light of their plans for local government devolution and their proposed reforms to police force structures.
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper, and in so doing refer to my interest in the register as chair of the National Preparedness Commission and declare that I am sitting on the advisory panel supporting the review by the noble Lord, Lord Hogan-Howe, of police force structures.
My Lords, I thank my noble friend for all the work he does as chair of the National Preparedness Commission and for what he is now doing in respect of policing. It is crucial to retain resilience as we go through the reforms to police forces and local government restructuring. The Government are actively assessing the impact of police and local government changes on local resilience forums to ensure that communities remain supported before, during and after emergencies. We are strengthening the local resilience forum model to make sure it is robust and fit for the future. We have allocated £2.5 million of trailblazer funding to test approaches that strengthen local leadership and accountability.
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for that response. If one believes in the concept of a whole of society and whole of government approach to resilience and preparedness, local resilience forums are an essential part of that mix. I hope my noble friend will relay to her ministerial colleagues that in reviewing what are the best arrangements and the best structures, there must be a recognition that one size fits all is inappropriate, in that the nature of communities around the country varies very widely. I ask that consideration be given to the model in Scotland, where there is a resilience structure at Scotland level, and then three regional structures—Scotland is perhaps midway between the two largest local resilience forum populations—three regions below that and 12 district structures below that. That enables a detailed look on a local, sub-regional and regional basis at how resilience is carried out.
I absolutely agree with my noble friend that one size does not fit all in this respect. He may be aware that my fellow Minister, my noble friend Lady Twycross, and myself have both worked in emergency services, so we know how important it is to get this right for local areas, and that absolutely goes alongside the devolution programme. Alongside that reorganisation and devolution, we are committed to strengthening the role of strategic authorities and mayors in local resilience, which will give the opportunity to develop local solutions. We are safeguarding emergency preparation and response effectiveness, making sure we get that continuity through the reorganisation programme. Part of the trailblazer programme is to introduce the concept of chief resilience officers, which we are looking at and will be testing. That will inform the 2027 review of the Civil Contingencies Act.
My Lords, utilising modern science and technology, the police appear to be addressing the most serious crime very effectively. But we all know that we have an epidemic of offending on our streets—and our high streets—unmatched in my lifetime, with shoplifting, phone-snatching, drug-dealing and rogue bikers. Does the Minister accept that we need to take a fresh look at how the police are organised and tasked?
My noble friend Lord Hanson, who has the next Question, may be better placed to answer that question. I agree that there was a real error made in decriminalising shoplifting. We are addressing that now and work is being done on it. As the noble Lord, Lord Hogan-Howe, carries on his review of police structures, which will report this summer, the Home Office is absolutely committed to ensuring that local policing remains at the heart of any changes to force structures. The policing White Paper is clear that responsive local policing will be guaranteed through local policing areas, with local officers focused on tackling the epidemic of everyday local crime. That undermines our communities; it causes great distress in them, and both our mayors and our police service want to tackle that as quickly as possible.
My Lords, with the establishment of new strategic authorities, the Minister has indicated that the Government plan to publish guidance on their duties and responsibilities. Can the Minister confirm that this guidance will clearly cover how these authorities and their mayors can most effectively work with local resilience forums going forward, and key partners, to ensure we continue collaboration, co-ordinated working and, importantly, operational readiness for major incidents?
The noble Baroness puts her finger on a critical point as we go through this: making sure that the resilience is effective throughout the period of reorganisation and then into the future. We are working in partnership with the Cabinet Office, the UK Resilience Academy, the Local Government Association and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives to support local authorities to make sure they strengthen their resilience capability. That is with training to clarify expectations, through the guidance the noble Baroness refers to, and sharing best practice. We work regularly with our colleagues in local government on this and through national forums, such as the national strategic forum of local resilience forum chairs.
My Lords, I declare my interest as head of the Army Reserve. I have been an active reservist now for 38 years and played a very active part during the Covid crisis, but the challenge always is that we tend to default to the military when it comes to aid to civil authority and national resilience. I simply ask the Minister: what thoughts do the Government have on the creation of a civilian reserve, rather along the lines of the model the Swedes have followed, with reserved occupations for times of crisis, so that we can have a civilian reserve and not have to default to the military the whole time?
The noble Lord raises a very interesting question. I do not have a direct answer for him but, having been through the process of being the leader of a local authority during the Covid period I pay tribute, first, to the voluntary and third sectors, which absolutely stepped up during that period, and, secondly, to colleagues in the services who also supported what both local government and national government were doing. We need to think very hard about where we are going to need significant resources and how those will be co-ordinated and arranged. I am sure that the 2027 review of the Civil Contingencies Act will take great consideration of the kind of issues the noble Lord has raised.
My Lords, the West Mercia area has an elected police commissioner at the moment, but we have no elected mayor in Hereford and Shopshire. What is the Government’s plan for devolution here? Will we be offered a mayoral deal to run the police?
The local government reorganisation and devolution programme is still ongoing, as I am sure my noble friend will be aware. It is the Government’s intention that when police and crime commissioners come to the end of their terms, there will be mayors in place to take over their duties. We will be making announcements towards the summer in response to all the proposals that have come in for the rest of the country where announcements have not already been made.
My Lords, guidance on emergency preparedness issued under the Civil Contingencies Act to the emergency responders who make up local resilience forums includes reference in chapter 14 to use of the voluntary sector. This is often assumed to be where the service provided is wholly or largely relevant to an emergency, such as that offered by Mountain Rescue, Samaritans or the Salvation Army. However, I notice that one local authority listed as an example of best practice includes the use of religious groups, presumably because of buildings and other services that they can provide. Might the Minister consider whether this warrants a discreet but distinct reference in a revision of the guidance?
We are very happy to take all suggestions as we refresh the guidance, so I am happy to speak to the right reverend Prelate outside the Chamber to clarify what he wants in there.
My Lords, effective emergency response depends on clear lines of leadership and accountability. In the context of local government reorganisation and devolution, when will the Government clarify who will be ultimately responsible for the co-ordination, leadership and performance of local resilience forums? The issue is that emergencies do not wait for the Government to review things and make plans. They happen suddenly and we need somebody leading these resilience forums.