Civil Contingencies Secretariat
Aims and Objectives
The Civil Contingencies Secretariat was established in July 2001. Since
then, CCS has worked to improve the UK's preparedness for and response
to emergencies.
CCS aims to ensure that the UK and its communities remain a safe and secure
place to live and work, by effectively identifying and managing the risk of
emergencies, and maintaining world-class capabilities to respond to and
recover from emergencies.
We have a number of specific objectives:
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Spotting trouble, assessing its nature and providing
warning
Not all emergencies are predictable. But, for those that are, the earlier
we detect an emerging crisis, and the more accurately we assess its
likely size and shape, the better the response we will put into place.
This objective covers the measures needed to ensure that, working with
Departments and a wide range of other organisations, we can spot, assess
and warn of trouble and thus facilitate the provision of the most
effective response, drawing on lessons from past experience.
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Being ready to respond
This objective covers the preparedness of all of those who might have a
role to play in the response to a major disruptive challenge. As well as
ensuring that we ourselves are ready, it is also about tracking the
preparedness of organisations at national, regional and local levels, in
the public sector and outside, using the Civil Contingencies Act to
develop and embed performance audit and management regimes across all
responders, rooted in formal preparedness assessments. We also aim to
ensure mechanisms are in place so that the UK is as well placed as it can
be to respond to threats which horizon-scanning shows may be at higher
risk of occurring.
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Building greater resilience for the future
This objective covers action at all levels, from local to international,
to build stronger resilience capabilities. It thus covers the processes
led by the CCS to drive the delivery of resilience capabilities. It also
covers international work to develop closer relations in the resilience
field through which we can build mutual resilience. This includes
bilateral work, and action in the EU and in NATO to seek to build greater
resilience capability in partner countries, as well as the EU's own
ability to manage a crisis.
-
Providing leadership and guidance to the resilience
community
We aim to tell those involved in delivering and building resilience
across the UK what we are trying to do, where we are trying to get to,
how we will get there and how we will know that we have succeeded - in
short, to build consistency and coherence across the UK. Some key means
are already in place, especially via the Capabilities Programme and its
outputs and the Civil Contingencies Act. We will be focusing on the
development of a 'National Resilience Strategy' and reviewing our
national exercise programme.
-
Effective management
This objective covers the way in which we manage ourselves, and our
effective management of Cabinet Office processes. Some of it is routine
but nonetheless important. We aim to sustain our reputation as effective
managers of people and money, and as efficient operators of Cabinet
Office processes.
Wider context
CCS carries out this work within the overall framework of the Cabinet
Office.
The Cabinet Office sits at the very centre of government and, with the
Treasury, provides the 'head office' of government. The Cabinet
Office has an overarching purpose of Making government work
better.
The Department has three core functions that enable it to achieve this
overarching purpose:
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Supporting the Prime Minister - to define and deliver
the Government's objectives.
-
Supporting the Cabinet - to drive the coherence, quality
and delivery of policy and operations across departments.
-
Strengthening the Civil Service - to ensure the civil
service is organised effectively and has the capability in terms of
skills, values and leadership to deliver the Government's objectives.
Click here to go to the Cabinet Office
website [External website].
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