This page contains important information that will help you in completing the survey questions.
Answer all questions by selecting the relevant option(s). You must provide a response for every question. Options are available to indicate a question is not applicable or the answer is unknown to you. Some questions allow for short written answers (under 50 words).
About the consultation questions
The questionnaire is divided into two sections. The questions ask respondents to think about their current partnership engagement and the potential future implications of stronger requirements. This will help us assess current ways of working and anticipated organisations challenges in meeting the proposed strengthened duty.
Section One aims to understand how things are right now.
- It focuses on the current state of partnership working, exploring the existing barriers, resources, and capacity for engaging with other organisations in emergency preparedness and response.
- Respondents should focus on current experiences with partnership working, including the level of resource, personnel and time commitment needed to undertake engagement.
Section Two aims to understand what might happen if the regulation changes.
- It focuses on the implications of a potential amendment to the statutory requirement for engagement, exploring perceived future challenges and how organisations anticipate a strengthened statutory duty could affect their resource, time, personnel, and capacity to undertake engagement.
- Respondents should think about how the proposed changes might affect their organisation.
Please answer both sections, this will help provide a comparison of the existing with potential changes.
What does ‘preparing for and responding to emergencies’ mean in practice?
The consultation asks you to think about a future where there is a strengthened requirement for general category 1 responders to establish and maintain partnerships with the voluntary, community and faith organisations in the areas in which they (the emergency responder) are responsible for preparing for and responding to emergencies.
For voluntary, community and faith organisations, the Emergency Preparedness guidance (chapter 14) and the Community Resilience Development Framework provide an overview of the types of partnership activities that organisations might already be involved in to support local emergency responders to prepare for and respond to emergencies.
Examples of activity could include:
- raising awareness of local risks,
- encouraging people to prepare for emergencies,
- promoting greater cohesion and building relationships across social groups,
- taking part in response and recovery training and exercising,
- supporting during and after an emergency by providing information, physical and emotional support, and
- volunteering or coordinating other volunteers.
The existing Regulations define voluntary organisations as relevant if they undertake activities aimed at emergency prevention, reduction, control or mitigation of the effects of emergencies, or any other action related to emergencies. This is a broad definition that will capture a range of charities and other voluntary organisations.
However, few voluntary organisations are established for the sole purpose of preparing for or responding to emergencies. A wide range of organisations would need to be factored into local civil protection arrangements, where they may have a contribution to make or a role to play in planning for, responding to, or recovering from, an emergency. This includes understanding the broad range of capabilities that organisations within the emergency responder’s geographic area have to offer. For example, the Grenfell Tower Inquiry highlighted the valuable role of voluntary, community and faith organisations and the trusted relationships that these organisations have within their community.