| Stakeholders updated on Civil Contingencies Bill Roger Hargreaves, head of the UK government’s Head of Civil Contingencies Bill Team, has written to key stakeholders outlining the current status of the bill following its readings in the House of Commons last week. The letter reads as follows (verbatim):
The Civil Contingencies Bill had its Report Stage on Monday 24 May. Report Stage gave MPs an opportunity to debate the Bill – as amended in Committee – on the floor of the House, and to table proposed amendments as they saw fit. The debate focused principally on Part 1 of the Bill, replaying a number of issues that had been prominent in Committee discussions. These included: - Role of the voluntary sector – particularly whether or not there should be a statutory duty on Category 1 responders to consult voluntary sector bodies in their emergency planning work; - Public information – including discussion of whether the Government is providing enough information about what members of the public should do in the event of an emergency; and - Devolution – focusing on the split of responsibilities between the UK Government and the devolved administrations in the civil protection area. The only substantive changes made to the Bill following Report Stage are the result of minor Government amendments relating to cross-border co-operation and information sharing. These amendments will ensure that provision can be made to require cooperation and information sharing between responders in Scotland and responders in the rest of the United Kingdom. The amendments also clarify the existing requirement on UK Ministers and Scottish Ministers to consult each other under certain circumstances when making regulations. Immediately after Report Stage, the Bill received
its Third Reading. The purpose of Third Reading is to allow the
Commons to look at the Bill as amended in Committee and The Bill has now passed to the House of Lords, where it will go through the same formal procedures as it did in the Commons, albeit with some minor differences. The Bill received its First Reading – which is essentially a formality, and is given without discussion – on Tuesday 25 May. The next stage of the Parliamentary process will be Second Reading. Second Reading is the point at which the House considers the general principle of the Bill. We therefore expect the debate to focus on the underlying intentions of the Bill, rather than a detailed scrutiny of each clause. It looks increasingly possible that Second Reading will take place in June, but this will of course be dependent on the availability of Parliamentary time. Overall timetable We know that a number of local areas are already beginning to prepare for the commencement of the duties. We welcome this work, though we would recommend that local responders are careful not to pre-empt or pre-judge the duties. The work on regulations and guidance currently underway will shape how the duties in the Bill will apply in practice, and we would advise against recasting of local arrangements until there is greater certainty. We would encourage a phased approach: a general assessment now of the impact of the Bill in broad terms; a more detailed assessment and implementation strategy when the regulations and guidance are issued in draft in the autumn; and full implementation from April 2005 onwards. Funding of local authorities If we are able to make the transfer to RSG in time for the 2005-06 financial year, we would expect to confirm this in early autumn. In terms of the level of funding, any announcement would be made as part of the provisional local government finance settlement, which provides the detail on the Government’s proposals for Formula Spending Shares (FSS) to each local authority. This will be announced towards the end of the year as is usual practice. We are maintaining a close dialogue with the LGA about this process, including whether or not any transitional arrangements are required. Next steps ROGER HARGREAVES
•Date:
3rd June 2004 •Region: UK •Type:
Article •Topic: Terrorism |
