Local Resilience Forums

Lord Harris of Haringey Excerpts

Thursday 16th April 2026 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Harris of Haringey]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to the future arrangements for Local Resilience Forums in the light of their plans for local government devolution and their proposed reforms to police force structures.

[Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab)]

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper, and in so doing refer to my interest in the register as chair of the National Preparedness Commission and declare that I am sitting on the advisory panel supporting the review by the noble Lord, Lord Hogan-Howe, of police force structures.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for all the work he does as chair of the National Preparedness Commission and for what he is now doing in respect of policing. It is crucial to retain resilience as we go through the reforms to police forces and local government restructuring. The Government are actively assessing the impact of police and local government changes on local resilience forums to ensure that communities remain supported before, during and after emergencies. We are strengthening the local resilience forum model to make sure it is robust and fit for the future. We have allocated £2.5 million of trailblazer funding to test approaches that strengthen local leadership and accountability.

[Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab)]

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for that response. If one believes in the concept of a whole of society and whole of government approach to resilience and preparedness, local resilience forums are an essential part of that mix. I hope my noble friend will relay to her ministerial colleagues that in reviewing what are the best arrangements and the best structures, there must be a recognition that one size fits all is inappropriate, in that the nature of communities around the country varies very widely. I ask that consideration be given to the model in Scotland, where there is a resilience structure at Scotland level, and then three regional structures—Scotland is perhaps midway between the two largest local resilience forum populations—three regions below that and 12 district structures below that. That enables a detailed look on a local, sub-regional and regional basis at how resilience is carried out.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I absolutely agree with my noble friend that one size does not fit all in this respect. He may be aware that my fellow Minister, my noble friend Lady Twycross, and myself have both worked in emergency services, so we know how important it is to get this right for local areas, and that absolutely goes alongside the devolution programme. Alongside that reorganisation and devolution, we are committed to strengthening the role of strategic authorities and mayors in local resilience, which will give the opportunity to develop local solutions. We are safeguarding emergency preparation and response effectiveness, making sure we get that continuity through the reorganisation programme. Part of the trailblazer programme is to introduce the concept of chief resilience officers, which we are looking at and will be testing. That will inform the 2027 review of the Civil Contingencies Act.