The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (c. 36) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that makes provision about civil contingencies. It also replaces former civil defence and emergency powers legislation of the 20th century.
Background to the act The act repeals the Civil Defence Act 1948 (12, 13 & 14 Geo. 6. c. 5) and the Civil Defence Act (Northern Ireland) 1950. Part 1 of the act establishes a new and broad definition of "emergency". The definition includes war or attack by a foreign power, which were defined as emergencies under previous legislation, as well as terrorism which poses a threat of serious damage to the security of the United Kingdom and events which threaten serious damage to human welfare in a place in the United Kingdom or to the environment of a place in the United Kingdom. Previous legislation, which was enacted during or after the Second World War, provided for civil protection solely in terms of "civil defence", which was defined as "measures, other than actual combat, for affording defence against a hostile attack by a foreign power". The act also broadens the number of local bodies which have duties in the event of an emergency; previous legislation only related to local authorities, police authorities and certain fire authorities. Neither strand had seen any significant amendments in a number of years and they were not deemed able to cope in the event of domestic threats to services such as the fuel protests of 2000 or natural threats like the mass flooding in 2000 and the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in 2001. Further urgency was caused by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in America, with concerns being raised over the adequacy of existing emergency planning to deal with a similar attack should it happen in the United Kingdom.
In the wake of these events, the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, announced a formal review of emergency planning arrangements. The review included a public consultation exercise, which generally supported the government's conclusion that existing legislation was no longer adequate and that new legislation was required. A draft bill was scrutinised in detail by the Joint Committee on the Draft Civil Contingencies Bill, which was very influential in shaping the legislation, though several of its proposals (notably the creation of a new 'Civil Contingencies Agency') were rejected.
The act guides and authorises the creation of a Local Resilience Forum to consider such matters within an existing police force boundary and requires responders to undertake risk assessments, maintain them in a Community Risk Register and to publish this register. Risks in this context are those that could result in a major emergency. This Community Risk Register is the first step in the emergency planning process; it ensures that the plans that are developed are proportionate to the risk.
The act
The act is divided into three parts: Part 1 defines the obligations of certain organisations to prepare for various types of emergencies. Part 2 provides additional powers for the government to use in the event of a large-scale emergency. Part 3 provides supplementary legislation in support of the first two parts.
Definition of an emergency
Both Part 1 and Part 2 provide definitions of an emergency for the purposes of their respective elements of the act at Section 1 and Section 19 respectively; both sections define an emergency as something that "threatens serious damage" to human welfare, the environment, or national security.The Civil Contingencies Act 2004, section 1The Civil Contingencies Act 2004, section 19 A draft version of the act allowed emergency powers to be triggered merely by an event threatening "political, administrative, or economic stability", but this was replaced by the tighter "serious damage" definition following criticism.
Part 1: Local arrangements for civil protection
Part 1 of the act places a legal obligation upon emergency services and local authorities (defined as "category 1 responders" under the act) to assess the risk of, plan, and exercise for emergencies, as well as undertaking business continuity management. Category 1 responders are also responsible for warning and informing the public in relation to emergencies. Finally, local authorities are required to provide business continuity advice to local businesses. It also places legal obligations for increased co-operation and information sharing between different emergency services and also to non-emergency services that might have a role in an emergency such as electric companies (non-emergency services are defined as category 2 responders under the act).
Part 2: Emergency powers
The second part of the act provides that temporary emergency regulations are normally made through Order in Council or by a Minister of the Crown if arranging for an Order in Council would not be possible without serious delay. Such regulations are limited in duration to 30 days,The Civil Contingencies Act 2004, section 26 unless Parliament votes to extend this period before it expires. The only primary legislation which may not be amended by emergency regulations is the Human Rights Act 1998 and part 2 of the Civil Contingencies Act itself; however, said regulations cannot be used to introduce military conscription or prohibit industrial action, nor can they be used to create an offence other than as described in Section 22(3)(i) of the act, create an offence other than one which is triable before a magistrates' court only (or, if the regulations concern Scotland, a sheriff under summary procedure), create an offence that is punishable by more than three months' imprisonment, or alter procedure in relation to criminal proceedings.The Civil Contingencies Act 2004, section 23
There was an attempt by Conservative and Liberal Democrat peers to add a number of other key constitutional laws to the exemption list during the bill stage, but this ended up being defeated in the House of Commons. The peers tried to protect the following laws from emergency regulation:
Habeas Corpus Act 1679 Bill of Rights 1689 Section 7 of the Parliament Act 1911 which limited the duration of a parliament to five years Act of Settlement 1701 House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 Life Peerages Act 1958 House of Lords Act 1999
The government of the day, for its part, claimed not to foresee any event in which usage of the act would affect laws of constitutional importance.
Section 21 of the act describes the conditions that would permit emergency regulations to be made;The Civil Contingencies Act 2004, section 21 these conditions have been consistently called a "triple lock" test by the media and by the government and as recently as 2020 the government summarised the test as follows: An emergency has occurred, is occurring, or is about to occur; The provisions sought are necessary for the purpose of preventing, controlling, or mitigating an aspect or effect of the emergency; The need is urgent, and existing legislation and other means would risk serious delay
A 2022 post-implementation review made a similar summary, but stated the third requirement as "The legislation is appropriate and proportionate"; no such requirement for appropriateness and proportionality is mentioned in Section 21 itself, but it does appear in Section 23. To date, the provisions of Part 2 have never been activated, with Cabinet Office guidance describing it as a "last resort option".
Categorised responders
Categorised responders are organisations defined in the act as having responsibilities for carrying out the legislation.
Each responder has an emergency planning officer (sometimes called a civil protection officer, civil contingencies officer, resilience officer, or risk manager) who is usually responsible for ensuring their organisation is in compliance with the act and sharing information with other responders. The usual way of checking compliance is by regularly testing plans by reviews or exercises.
The Armed Forces, despite having a defined policy of providing aid to the civil authorities as needed (and regularly doing so), are not a categorised responder for the purposes of the Act.
Category 1 responders
Category 1 responders are known as core responders; they include the usual "blue-light" emergency services, as well as others:
Local authorities Police forces, including the British Transport Police, Civil Nuclear Constabulary and Ministry of Defence Police Fire services Ambulance services HM Coastguard NHS hospital trusts, NHS foundation trusts (and Welsh equivalents), NHS Scotland Territorial Health Boards, NHS England, NHS Integrated Care Boards in England, UK Health Security Agency, and Public Health Wales Port health authorities The Environment Agency, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, and Natural Resources Wales
Category 2 responders
Category 2 responders are key co-operating responders that act in support of the category 1 responders. Category 2 responders are mostly utility companies and transport organisations:
Utilities Electricity distributors and transmitters Gas distributors Water and sewerage undertakers Telephone service providers (fixed and mobile)
Transport Network Rail Train operating companies (passenger and freight) London Underground Transport for London National Highways Airport operators Harbour authorities
Others
The Health and Safety Executive The Coal Authority The Met Office
Section 34 – Commencement The following orders have been made under sections 34(1) and (3): The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (Commencement No. 1) Order 2004 (SI 2004/3281 (C. 148)) The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (Commencement No. 2) Order 2005 (SI 2005/772 (C. 33)) The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (Commencement No. 3) Order 2005 (SI 2005/2040 (C. 89)) The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (Commencement) (Scotland) Order 2005 (SSI 2005/493 (C. 26)), made under sections 34(2) and (3).
Reactions To draft versions In the context of a draft version of the act, specifically after the "serious damage" definition of an emergency and other alterations had been introduced, Liberty's Shami Chakrabarti said that the government had responded to most of her group's concerns about the act and there was "cause to welcome it", but noted that provisions allowing the declaration of a state of emergency in the case of disruption to communications networks remained a cause for concern. Statewatch's Tony Bunyan was more critical of the act; he said that the changes made to it were "limited concessions" which "in no way change[d] the fundamental objections" to it, that it would give "truly draconian" powers to the government and to state agencies, and that it was "Britain's Patriot Act" which could, "at a stroke", replace democracy with totalitarianism. The Conservatives' then-Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said the act was "necessary" and "seriously overdue" but worried that its definition of an emergency was still too wide and believed that Parliament needed a say on ministers' use of its powers, while the Liberal Democrats' then-spokesman Tom Brake said that the modified Act was better but concerns remained and that more funding for emergency planning was needed; Brake was also critical of what he called the government's "trust me" attitude over the act. After enactment According to Clive Walker and James Broderick's commentary on the act, published two years after its enactment: