| Civil Contingencies Act 2004 |
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Information AboutCivil Contingencies Act 2004 |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT CIVIL CONTINGENCIES ACT 2004 | |
| emergency laws | |
| united kingdom acts of parliament 2004 | |
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BACKGROUND TO THE ACT The Act replaces two strands of former legislation. The first strand was the Civil Defence legislation, represented primarily by the Civil Defence Act 1948 and Civil Defence Act (Northern Ireland) 1950 , which provided requirements on how public bodies should prepare for potential attacks by foreign powers. The second strand was the Emergency Powers legislation, represented primarily by the Emergency Powers Act 1920 and Emergency Powers Act (Northern Ireland) 1926 , which granted extra powers to the UK government in the event that services deemed essential in the 1920s were threatened. Neither strand had seen any significant amendments in a number of years and, unfortunately, were not able to cope in the event of domestic threats to services – such as the Fuel Protests Of 2000 – or natural threats like the Mass Flooding In 2000 and the Outbreak Of Foot And Mouth Disease In 2001 . In the wake of these three events, the Deputy Prime Minister , John Prescott , announced a formal review into emergency planning arrangements. The review included a public consultation exercise, which generally supported the Government's conclusion that existing legislation was no longer adequate and that new legislation was required. The proposed new legislation was laid before Parliament, and on 18th November 2004 it received Royal Assent , becoming the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. THE ACT The Act is divided into three parts:
Part 1: Local Arrangements for Civil Protection Part 1 of the Act places a legal obligation upon emergency services and local authorities (defined as "Category 1 responders" under the Act) to have a Business Continuity Plan . In particular, local authorities are required to provide business continuity advice to local businesses and volunteer groups. It also places legal obligations for increased co-operation and information sharing between different emergency services and also to non-emergency services that might have a role in an emergency such as electric companies (non-emergency services are defined as “Category 2 responders” under the Act). Part 2: Emergency Powers Part 2 of the Act provides new powers that allow a Minister of The Crown to introduce temporary emergency laws for part of the country, or even the whole country if Parliament cannot be called into session quick enough for a response. Such laws are limited in duration to 30 days, unless Parliament votes to extend this period before it expires. The only Act of Parliament which may not be amended by emergency regulations is the Human Rights Act 1998 . There was an attempt by Conservative and Liberal Democrat peers to add a number of other key constitutional laws to the exemption list during the Bill stage, but this was unsuccesful. The laws they tried to protect from emergency regulation were:
The introduction of the Act comes with increased funding for emergency planning in the United Kingdom to help organisations comply with the Act and brings emergency planning funding more on par with European levels. See also Category 1 & 2 responders Category 1 and Category 2 responders are organisations defined in the Act as having responsibilities for carrying out the legislation. Each responder has an emergency planning officer (sometimes called a '''civil protection officer''', '''civil contingencies officer''', or '''risk manager''') who is usually responsible for ensuring their organisation is in compliance with the Act and sharing information with other responders. The usual way of checking compliance is by regularly testing plans by reviews or exercises. Category 1 responders Category 1 responders are known as core responders - they include the usual "blue-light" emergency services as well as others:
Category 2 responders Category 2 responders are key co-operating responders that act in support of the Category 1 responders. Category 2 responders are mostly utility companies and transport organisations: Utilities
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