Source · Select Committees · National Security Strategy (Joint Committee)
Recommendation 14
14
Accepted
While we welcome ambitions to scrutinise resilience plans through the UK Resilience Academy, it is...
Conclusion
While we welcome ambitions to scrutinise resilience plans through the UK Resilience Academy, it is unclear at this stage how effective its scrutiny will be. How far its scrutiny remit will stretch, and whether this will include reviewing preparedness plans in the event of a crisis or warfighting situation, and/or increasingly sophisticated attacks facilitated through novel technologies, are all outstanding questions. (Conclusion, Paragraph 66)
Government Response Summary
The government addresses the committee's questions about the UK Resilience Academy's effectiveness and remit by stating it is being instructed to convene expert panels annually to scrutinise preparedness for whole-system civil emergencies and is developing a national exercising hub linked to risk monitoring.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Government agrees with both recommendations. The UK government will maintain responsibility for the delivery of our response plans and preparations. The UK Resilience Academy (UKRA) is committed to enhancing the provision of independent advice and challenge to the UK government, and will incorporate perspectives of the UK’s leading experts on various complex risks into our work. It is being instructed to convene a number of panels per year composed of relevant experts to scrutinise plans and preparedness for whole-system civil emergencies across the UK. They will scrutinise our planning via document reviews and interviews with key officials and offer recommendations on improvements that can be made to the Cabinet Office as well as to the Lead Government Department for the specific risk they are considering. The UKRA is a key partner of the National Exercising Programme, and is currently playing a significant role in developing a national exercising hub, which will host, among other things an exercising tracker for Tier 1 and 2 exercises, comprehensive guidance on exercising best practice and doctrine and how we work with NSRA/NRR colleagues to link exercising with risk monitoring and mitigation.