This article, ‘Steps forward from a disaster’ written by Lynda King Taylor, appearedin the November ‘06 edition of Public Servant – The Publication for Today’s

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PUBLICSERVANT

PUBLICSERVANT

In the worst case...London’s emergency planners learnsome difficult lessons on preparednessas the capital’s response to the July 2005 attacks is analysed

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page 14FIRST PERSON

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page 18FEATURES

www.publicservant.co.ukNovember 2006

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analysis NOVEMBER 2006 • PUBLICSERVANT

Irecall being taught that the future ispaid for somewhere in the past andif you can recognise the need for

improvement things are alreadyimproving. This came back to mewith the recent post-7/7 reports fromthe Home Office and the LondonRegional Resilience Forum. It is aperverse fact that disaster earns expe-rience, to win wisdom.

The Civil Contingencies Act(CCA) has assisted local arrange-ments for civil protection, humanwelfare, and business continuityadvice from local authorities.Mapped throughout the CCA areresponsibilities for local responders,duties such as informing and warningthe public, sharing information, riskassessment and a basis for perform-ance management at local level. Itseeks to get agencies together onresilience and is a significant step for-ward. But, post the 7/7 reports, will itbe enough for the government?

Possibly not, when you consider thechallenges. The continuity/resilienceissues required to deal with terrorismthreats, as well as their integration inrisk management, are now imperativeand often imperfect. This autumnoffers a landmark with the introduc-tion of the first British Standard onbusiness continuity – BS 25999. Thenew standard will provide businessesof all sizes and from all sectors with abenchmark on which to base theirplanning and provide a checklist forimplementing continuity strategies.

It is also a tidal time to tackle weak-nesses identified in the two 7/7 reportsin securing national and local pre-paredness. Talking with two bor-oughs, Westminster and Bexley, thereis clearly a determination to do so and,

as terrorism knows no borders, a shar-ing of lessons with partners.

For Westminster City Councilchanges were already applied after the9/11 incidents leading to reviews ofemergency planning and the build-upto CCA compliance. John Barradell,director of community protection,reminds me that more than a millionworkers visit the area each day, plac-ing significant strain on infrastructureeven without the trauma of terrorism.

For Barradell and Brian Blake,Westminster’s head of civil contin-gency planning, complacency is noton the cards and both admit there aremany lessons to be learned from 7/7,such as sharing more information,especially with the public and busi-nesses; stronger support to survivors;quicker establishment of receptioncentres, morgues and other assistancewith improved equipment.

Barradell says that before 7/7, gov-ernment’s aspiration was to have avictim support centre. There was nodefinitive plan that anyone had seen inlocal government and the firstWestminster knew of it was their

being requested on the night of 7/7 tochair a joint meeting to set up a victimassistance centre for which there wasno document available off the shelf.

Post 9/11, all London boroughsagreed to participate in the LondonFire and Emergency PlanningAuthority to ensure there is a cross-London plan for all 32 boroughs andthe City Corporation. Bexley Councilchief executive Nick Johnson says aplan was always there for what couldbe called Acts of God: “What’s madea particular difference with terrorismis that the plan is now geared for vastchallenges. What would happen ifthere were a massive infrastructurefailure in central London? What ifthere were huge requirements to relo-cate thousands of people?”

He acknowledges the importance ofLondon Councils (previously theAssociation of London Government),and where the outer London boroughshave offered to cooperate to movelarge populations.

“A borough such as Bexley wouldhave a core team headed by the chiefexecutive and including the social

services director, adult social care,children specialists, finance, planning,operational environmental servicesspecialists. Each council will havetremendous resources at its fingertips.It has been a big step forward.”

Both Barradell and Blake are awarethat at a major incident “you can besigning away £3-4m”. Contract feeshave to be signed off, and they learnedthey must have a finance colleaguealongside at each stage to cut bureau-cratic timescales and audit trails.

Incidents breed innovation, animperative towards self-help andan appreciation of communitycohesion. The bombarding of newswebsites from people wanting toknow how to get home on 7/7prompted the question byWestminster: “In an emergencywho can you trust to give you thereal picture?” Westminster haslaunched a website www.communi-tysafe.gov.uk to give real-timeinformation and send out messages.

“At 7/7 we learned more from theBBC news than we did through thenormal chain of command and infor-mation,” says Johnson. “Bexley hasinvested in better telecoms technolo-gy.” He recalls, years ago, reviewingThames flooding plans: “All the serv-ices were in the town hall basement.Eventually we realised this wasbonkers. Flooding would haveknocked out the communications.”

Solutions are often in the detail. At11pm on 7 July Westminster called aFrench-polisher. Furniture for thefamily area of the morgue was look-ing knocked about, says Barradell.“Such attention to detail may soundridiculous, but it makes a differencefor the victims. It’s never easy.”

A price has been paid for

7 July 2005 in the

experience of hundreds of

devastated people. The

government report says

victims were let down by

the authorities before, on

the day, and in weeks that

followed the attacks.

Lynda King Taylor looks

for lessons learned at two

London boroughs

Steps forward from a disaster

“ “At 7/7 we learned more from the BBC newsthan we did through the normal chain of command and information