Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 10
10
The Cabinet Office has a key role in ensuring government is ready to respond to...
Conclusion
The Cabinet Office has a key role in ensuring government is ready to respond to unexpected and unprecedented events. It is responsible for coordinating civil contingencies response to unexpected events, conducting COBRA meetings, working with local resilience forums and with devolved administrations.24 The Cabinet Office also keeps a national risk register which includes “unexpected events” in terms of those that are irregular but known to occur, such as weather events. It also includes those which may not have occurred before but which there may be a chance of occurring. Examples of these sorts of events have included the Iraq war and the global financial crisis.25 Planning for risks on the risk register is managed with input from across government. In particular, the Treasury also works to formulate and assess the plans in the risk register.26
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
5.1 The government agrees with this recommendation. Recommendation implemented 5.2 The government regularly conducts scenario-based exercises to ensure robust plans and appropriate capabilities are in place to respond to events, mitigate impacts and ensure the continuity of public services. 5.3 The work led by the Civil Contingencies Secretariat (CCS) is driven by a systematic assessment of risk, using cross-government, medium term tools such as the National Security Risk Assessment and formalised short-term risk assessment processes to deal with emerging events. This delivers consistency and authority. 5.4 CCS works closely with all government departments and agencies, under the Lead Government Department principle, to ensure this risk assessment translates into plans and actions to mitigate or prepare to deal with disruptive challenges. 5.5 From December 2020, CCS will be supplemented with an enhanced multi-agency Command, Control and Coordination (C3) system, to coordinate the most disruptive challenges across the system; working alongside the EU Exit and COVID-19 secretariats to make sure key decisions and topics are coordinated, and possible synergies and crossovers highlighted. 5.6 This approach reflects the lessons and experience from previous events, including COVID-19 and previous Brexit-related planning. 5.7 This C3 structure will provide the government with clear situational awareness which will be used to monitor and track whether disruptive challenges are beginning to manifest. 5.8 These structures will increase CCS’s capacity to respond robustly to events, ensure that risks are viewed holistically and create easier data flows across the department and wider system. Lessons and improvements will be permanently incorporated into enduring crisis management arrangements.