The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 requires local responder bodies to co-operate in preparing for and responding to emergencies through a Local Resilience Forum Plan Sussex has always recognised the importance of multi-agency working and has addressed this for many years by engaging in a range of formal and informal groups and networks. These now operate under the Sussex Resilience Forum.

Aim

Its overall purpose is to ensure that there is an appropriate level of preparedness to enable an effective multi-agency response to emergencies which may have a significant impact on the communities of Sussex.

Objectives

The Sussex Resilience Forum's specific objectives are:

• to agree on joint strategic and policy approaches relating to Sussex's preparedness and response;
• to approve the Community Risk Register, and ensure it provides a robust basis for planning;
• to ensure that appropriate multi-agency plans, procedures, training and exercises necessary to address identified or foreseeable local and wider area hazards are in place and outstanding gaps identified;
• to direct and oversee the activities of working groups as they are established and allocate tasks to them as appropriate;
• to receive reports from the working groups on current threat levels, gaps in the Generic Policy Planning working document  and progress on actions tasked;
• to ensure that appropriate resources are made available to working groups to fulfil statutory and task-based responsibilities;
• to co-ordinate the individual approaches and responsibilities of each organisation to ensure that they complement each other and dovetail with partners' arrangements, and
• to consider the implications of legislation, national initiatives and decisions of the Regional Resilience Forum for the Local Resilience Forum area.

Membership of Sussex Resilience Forum Management Group

Local Authorities

West Sussex County Council  - Mark Hammond

East Sussex County Council – Andrew Ogden

Borough/District East – Martin Ray

Borough/ District West – Michael Coughlin

Brighton and Hove – Alan McCarthy

Response Services

Sussex Police – Jeremy Payne

East Sussex FRS – Des Prichard

West Sussex FRS – Martin Burrell

SECAMB NHS Trust – Paul Sutton

Environmental Agency – Richard Hammond

Maritime & Coastguard Agency – Norman Smee

Health

Health Protection Agency – David Hagen

Lead (WSX PCT) – Barry Newell/Farhang Tahzib

Acute Health Service – Ian Tait

The Sussex Resilience Forum organisational structure and Terms of Reference are available to read. The membership will be kept under review and where necessary amended to reflect future legislative or local requirements.