Partnership Working in the Spotlight at Successful Civil Contingencies Conference

Officers from the emergency services and councils joined health service staff and delegates from Staffordshire businesses to discuss how to plan for emergencies such as floods, terrorist attacks or a flu pandemic. 

The event at the Yarnfield Conference Centre was organised by the Staffordshire Resilience Forum (SRF), a partnership between the emergency services, health services and councils responsible for planning Staffordshire's response to civil contingency incidents. 

Andy Marshall, Director of the Staffordshire Civil Contingencies Unit, welcomed delegates by stressing the importance of working together to combat threats to the safety of county residents. 

He revealed his team had provided a vital coordination link at over 100 incidents during the 2007 / 08 financial year. 

Assistant Chief Constable Marcus Beale, Chair of the SRF, told delegates they had a "moral obligation" to Staffordshire residents to plan ahead for possible incidents.

"Civil contingency issues are of prime importance.  People, quite rightly, expect us to have good plans in place.  We can be very proud of how we have worked together in this county to tackle incidents which can have a massive impact on people's lives."

Delegates heard keynote speeches from an expert panel including Andy Fraser, the Head of Civil Contingencies Act and Local Response Capability Team at the Cabinet Office, Mark Norbury, National Emergency Preparedness Coordinator for the Ambulance Service and Mark Scoggins, a Solicitor Advocate, who represented the Metropolitan Police in legal proceedings following the fatal shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube Station in 2005. 

They attended workshops to discuss issues such as command and control procedures, flooding, partnership working and working with the media in an emergency. 

Chris Sims, Staffordshire Police Chief Constable, said the day had been about partnership working.  "This is vitally important," he said.  "People rightly expect a seamless service.  We have to be prepared to act in a professional way when our communities need us most."

Nina Dawes, Chief Executive of Lichfield District Council said: "It has been a really good event.  It is the first time in Staffordshire we have been given the opportunity to get experts together on a large scale in this way."

Tim Hyde, Fire and Rescue Service Commander for the Stafford area, said: "It is vital that we work together to ensure that incidents are well managed and we assist people to get back to normal living as quickly as possible.  This conference will hopefully lead to even greater inter-agency working in the county."