Recommendation 28

Local organisations have a critical role in responding to emergencies and building resilience.50 Emergency responders in a local area convene in local resilience forums (LRFs) and the Cabinet Office published a set of national resilience standards for LRFs in 2020. These standards provide a consistent way for LRFs and their constituent local responder organisations to self-assess their capabilities and level of readiness, and to guide continuous improvement against mandatory requirements, good and leading practice. However, the standards have no formal status, and their use is voluntary. LRFs produce community risk registers that set out the greatest risks to each local area, what is being done to manage them and where the public can get help or advice. The NAO found that of 42 community risk registers in England and Wales, 43% may give the public partly outdated information as they have not been updated since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.51 Local responders also have statutory obligations to maintain emergency plans and their own business continuity arrangements.52