Wales Resilience Partnership: terms of reference

The primary purpose of the Wales Resilience Partnership (WRP) is to ensure effective, efficient and coordinated delivery of priorities in relation to emergency preparedness and strengthening Wales’ resilience.

The WRP will consider matters relating to emergency preparedness at the pan-Wales level and determine appropriate responses to them as part of a coordinated programme of work. Each member has a role in promoting communication and collaboration between and across all partners within the responder community for the enhancement of risk management and emergency preparedness in Wales.

The WRP has the following main responsibilities:

• Planning and coordinating how and when tasks will be undertaken at the pan-Wales level through the development of a detailed work programme (to be approved by the Wales Resilience Forum (WRF) which is aligned to the core principles and outcomes contained in the Wales Resilience Framework.
• Establishing multi-agency operational subgroups with clearly defined and delegated responsibilities. The factors for determining the need for operational subgroups are described in Annex A.
• Maintaining oversight of the outputs of operational subgroups, providing challenge and scrutiny where necessary.
• Providing regular reports to the WRF on the following matters:
  • progress and achievements against the delivery of main pan-Wales priorities
  • assessment of any risks to delivery of pan-Wales priorities
  • assurance on pan-Wales emergency preparedness and resilience matters
• Considering recommendations, lessons identified, risks, issues and barriers to delivery escalated from Local Resilience Forums (LRFs), operational subgroups and individual members (via the LRF), to determine an appropriate course of action (including escalation to the WRF if required).
• Ensuring that the principles of the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP) Joint Doctrine are embedded in pan-Wales working practices, where applicable.

Individual members also have the following responsibilities:

• Bringing forward issues that require escalation to the Partnership.
• Communicating messages, work programme activities and decisions across their respective areas of responsibility to support a shared awareness of WRP activity.
• Identifying and facilitating access to colleagues, other public sector partners and relevant subject matter experts (from within their respective areas of responsibility) who have the skills and expertise to support operational subgroups in delivering their identified priorities.

Annex B describes additional responsibilities for specific members of the Partnership, particularly where they represent more than one responder agency.

• Chair: Deputy Director, National Security and Resilience Division.
• Deputy Chair: Head of Resilience Unit, National Security and Resilience Division.
• Secretariat:Resilience Unit, Welsh Government.

Members

Practitioner-level representatives from all Category 1 and Category 2 responders, and selected non-responder bodies, as required. All members should have appropriate authority, experience and expertise in civil contingencies and resilience within their respective organisations, to enable the WRP to fulfil its coordination responsibilities.

WRP membership includes chairs of operational subgroups (if they are not already represented within the core membership). A list of the full membership is at Annex B. Additional colleagues, other public sector partners, subject matter experts, representatives, advisors and observers may be invited to attend meetings on an ad-hoc basis to support the business of the Partnership.

The WRP will meet four times each year. It may be necessary for ad hoc business to be conducted outside of the agreed meeting structure. Where this is the case, an extraordinary meeting may be convened, or business may be conducted via correspondence.

The meeting agenda and relevant papers will be circulated a minimum of five working days in advance of each meeting. Papers will be circulated to all resilience partners in Wales.

Messages and decisions will be circulated to WRP members. An agreed summary note of each meeting will be published on the Welsh Government website.

The terms of reference for the Wales Resilience Partnership will be reviewed on an annual basis.

The core purpose of operational subgroups is to support effective delivery against the main priorities outlined in the WRP work programme. Some operational subgroups will be required to consider ongoing priorities (core groups), and some will focus on specific issues which require a time-limited response (task and finish groups). All operational subgroups should operate at a pan-Wales level and undertake a multi-agency approach to coordinating action to support improved risk management, preparedness and wider resilience work, and ensure the delivery of the main objectives.

It is for the WRP to determine the number of core groups which are needed. In doing so, the WRP should consider all available evidence to determine the most appropriate approach. To ensure consistency and maximise resource efficiency, core subgroups should only be established where evidence points to the need for a unified ‘Once for Wales’ approach to addressing pan-Wales challenges, on an ongoing, or long-term basis. Where evidence suggests the need for short-term action, or a one-off response, to resolve a particular issue, the WRP may wish to establish a task and finish group to take this forward.

Factors to consider

Factors which influence the need for an operational subgroup should include one or more of the following:

• emerging or identified risks that are high in impact or ‘catastrophic’ (as identified in the Wales Risk Register)
• preparedness or capability gaps for risks or the common consequences of risk (as identified in the Wales Preparedness Report)
• themes emanating from lessons identified exercises, multi-agency debriefs and/or public inquiry recommendations
• identified areas of low capability and high vulnerability

Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) may also make representations to the WRP for the creation of an operational subgroup. In doing so, LRFs should provide clear evidence to support the request. Evidence should, in most cases, address one or more of the factors listed above. There may, however, be instances where this is not the case, for example, there may be an emerging risk or identified capability issue which cannot be managed by a single LRF or which might be more efficiently managed on a pan-Wales basis. Where such representations are made, it is for the WRP to consider the merits of the request and determine an appropriate course of action.

Membership of subgroups

Memberships of operational subgroups should be balanced with appropriate representation from a range of partners, as well as relevant subject matter experts. When determining the membership of subgroups, the WRP should ensure it reflects a whole-system approach to preparedness and does not overly focus on particular sectors, such as blue light organisations. The WRP should also be mindful of the need to avoid overburdening organisations, particularly when members sit on more than one subgroup. This can be managed by ensuring each group has clear objectives, milestones, and timelines for delivery, which can be discussed and monitored by the WRP.

Membership of subgroups does not necessarily need to be drawn from the WRP membership. Instead, the membership of subgroups should reflect the skills and expertise necessary to address the identified priorities. The WRP may wish to nominate an appropriate lead organisation to chair a subgroup and work with that organisation’s representative on the WRP to determine who is best placed to chair and sit on the group.

Communication flows

When establishing operational subgroups, the WRP should be cognisant of the need to ensure effective communication flows between those groups and other multi-agency groups and structures which sit outside the governance structure, for example, JESG. The WRP will need to ensure the composition of groups supports effective communication and information sharing with other multi-agency structures and encourage joined-up working (where appropriate) to optimise efficiency and reduce duplication of effort.

• Army
• Fire and Rescue Services (Relevant officers from each of the 3 fire and rescue services in Wales)
• Health boards and trusts (1 locally agreed representative to act on behalf of the health boards and trusts within each local resilience forum (LRF) region):
  • to act on behalf of all health boards and trusts within each Local Resilience Forum area
• Joint Emergency Services Group (JESG):
  • act as a conduit between the Joint Emergency Services Group and Wales Resilience Partnership, ensuring messages and strategic decisions are communicated
  • identify areas for alignment of work programmes to ensure resources are allocated effectively
• Local authorities (1 locally agreed representative to act on behalf of the local authorities within each local resilience forum (LRF) region):
  • to act on behalf of all local authorities within their respective LRF area
  • to act on behalf of Port Health Authorities within their respective LRF areas (where applicable)
• Local Resilience Forum Coordinators (Coordinators/managers of each of the 4 local resilience forums in Wales)
• Maritime and Coastguard Agency
• Natural Resources Wales
• NHS Executive:
  • Represent Health Boards and Trusts in terms of:
    • system resilience planning and response
    • NHS Emergency Planning
    • engagement with NHS organisations
    • NHS readiness and response to civil contingencies and national security risks
  • act as a conduit between health boards and trusts and the Wales Resilience Partnership, ensuring messages and strategic decisions are communicated.
  • identify areas for alignment of work programmes to ensure resources are allocated effectively.
• Police (Relevant officers from each of the 4 police forces in Wales and the British Transport Police)
• Public Health Wales
• Royal Air Force
• Royal Navy
• Wales Council for Voluntary Action:
  • to represent all voluntary and third sector organisations in Wales
  • act as a conduit between the voluntary and third sector organisations in Wales and Wales Resilience Partnership, ensuring messages and strategic decisions are communicated
• Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust
• Welsh Government:
  • act as a conduit between Welsh Government policy teams and Wales Resilience Partnership ensuring important messages and strategic decisions are communicated
• Welsh Local Government Association
• Category 2 responders:
  • Government agencies:
    • Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA)
    • Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
    • Met Office
    • The Mining Remediation Authority (formerly the Coal Authority)
• Transport:
  • Airports
  • Harbours and Ports
  • Network Rail
  • Train operating companies (passenger and freight) including Transport for Wales
• Utilities companies:
  • Electricity distributors and transmitters
  • Gas distributors
  • Telephone service providers (fixed and mobile)
  • Water and sewerage undertakers