Wales Resilience Partnership meeting: 9 June 2026

The Chair opened the Wales Resilience Partnership (WRP) meeting, welcoming members and providing details of Welsh Government restructuring since the formation of the new government. The Prif Weinidog Cymru/First Minister for Wales would retain overarching responsibility for resilience, national security and cyber matters.

The minutes of the last meeting were agreed as an accurate record of proceedings.

An updated version of the Wales Flood Response Framework was being developed for publication in 2026, informed by recent storm events and wider resilience work.

The revised framework was presented to members for consultation. To address the breadth of comments and ensure comprehensive stakeholder engagement, members proposed a working group be established on a task and finish basis.

Decision: A working group to be formed to ensure comprehensive engagement with members of the WRP.

The ongoing risks from exotic notifiable animal diseases, including foot and mouth, avian influenza and blue tongue were outlined. The importance of preparedness was stressed given the significant implications for biosecurity, trade, public health and the wider economy.

Members agreed a task and finish group would be established to clarify the interface between animal health and civil contingencies. A proportionate evidence-gathering exercise was proposed to help identify gaps and focus the group’s priorities.

Decision: A task and finish group to be established to consider a pan-Wales approach to addressing any capability gaps.

Members were provided with a brief overview of the UK government’s forthcoming public information campaign, which would aim to improve public awareness and preparedness for emergencies.

Decision: WG would work with UKG to arrange a workshop for WRP members to feed in any comments and views on the public awareness campaign.

Members were presented with findings from a recent exercise which tested preparedness for a severe fuel disruption.

To develop consistent fuel planning arrangements across Wales, it was agreed that a pan-Wales task and finish group would be established to address the key recommendations from the exercise.

Decision: Establish a task-and-finish group on fuel disruption planning.

Members received updates on the series of events taking place at the Royal Welsh Showground on 1-2 July, to mark the anniversary of the launch of the Wales Resilience Framework and Delivery Plan.

Following agreement of the WRP’s work programme, volunteer sub-group chairs and membership had been appointed. Subgroup chairs provided updates on their respective group’s progress. Workplans would be presented at the next WRP meeting.

A review of the Pan Wales Response Plan recognised it was outdated, no longer aligned to revised governance arrangements, terminology and current executive functions, and did not reflect modern incident types such as cyber incidents or infrastructure disruption.

A new comprehensive framework for Welsh Government crisis response was being developed to clarify roles and responsibilities and improve crisis facilities and processes, with the potential for it to include updated pan Wales arrangements.

Decision: To pause any reviews of PEATs and SAMMs until the new WG Concept of Operations is prepared, which will be presented to a future WRP meeting.

Members were reminded that the JESIP doctrine review call for evidence was underway and were directed to the JESIP website for further information.

The next WRP meeting is scheduled to take place on 16 September 2026.