Excellence in Local Partnership Working: The Staffordshire Civil Contingencies Unit (CCU)

CCU Offices, Stafford

The Staffordshire Resilience Forum (SRF) partnership consists of twenty two of Staffordshire's public sector organisations. These are the Emergency Services, all ten Local Authorities, all NHS Trusts and the Environment Agency.

The Civil Contingencies Unit (CCU)

The CCU is the product of innovative public sector partnership working at a local level. A small, expert unit, the CCU is funded by all partners of the SRF.

In return, the CCU supports Staffordshire's front-line public services in meeting their obligations under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.

The partnership approach promotes greater economy and efficiency, achieving positive outcomes through sharing existing resources, capabilities and knowledge for the benefit of Staffordshire's communities.

The CCU sits at the heart of the SRF partnership and has four main roles:

To write and maintain the key "Staffordshire Prepared" multi agency plans on behalf of the 22 Staffordshire Category 1 Responders as defined by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004;
To provide multi-agency training and exercises for the members of the Staffordshire Resilience Forum
To provide a 24-hour, 365-days a year operational call-out capability to support Category 1 responders in the discharge of their statutory duty in the event of an Emergency;
To provide the secretariat and administrative support functions for the Staffordshire Resilience Forum and its supporting meetings; and

The CCU is accountable to the SRF through a Management Board of its Chief Executives who represent the Unit's stakeholders.

Internally, the eleven members of the CCU are organised as below. Led by the Director of Civil Contingencies, the CCU delivers its four key responsibilities through Civil Contingencies Officers that are supported by our administrative support team, led by the Business Manager.

CCU Photo

Photograph by Jon Thorne Photography

The twenty partner organisations of the SRF are:

All Local Authorities in Staffordshire, namely:

Staffordshire County Council
Cannock Chase Council
East Staffordshire Borough Council
Lichfield District Council
Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council
South Staffordshire Council
Stafford Borough Council
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council
Stoke-on-Trent City Council
Tamworth Borough Council

Emergency Services

Staffordshire Police
Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service
West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust

All Health Economies in Staffordshire, namely:

North Staffordshire PCT
South Staffordshire PCT
Stoke Teaching PCT
North Staffordshire Combined Health Care NHS Trust
South Staffordshire & Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
University Hospital North Staffordshire NHS Trust
Burton Hospitals NHS Trust
Mid Staffordshire General Hospitals NHS Trust

The Environment Agency

Other Organisations

The Staffordshire Civil Contingencies Unit also liaises closely with a wide variety of other Category 1 and 2 responder agencies and organisations, these organisations include:

Armed Forces

Electricity providers

Environment Agency

Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs

Gas providers

Government Offices West Midlands

Government Decontamination Service (GDS)

Health Protection Agency

Health and Safety Executive

Highways Agency

HM Coroner

Met Office

Network Rail

Nuclear Accident Response Organisation (NARO)

Religious organisations

Telephone service providers (fixed and mobile)

Train operating authorities

Water and sewerage providers

Voluntary Sector

Staffordshire Search and Rescue Team (SSART)

British Red Cross

Inter-faith religious response group

Peak District Mountain Rescue Organisation

Radio Amateurs' Emergency Network (RAYNET)

Salvation Army

Samaritans

St John Ambulance

WRVS

Click here to read the latest news for the CCU and the Staffordshire Resilience Forum

Last Modified: 09/06/2010 12:14:00
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