Ayrshire Civil Contingencies
North Ayrshire Council · 6 June 2025
Back to Ayrshire Shared Services Committee — 6 June 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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1 South Ayrshire Council Report by the Chief Governance Officer to Ayrshire Shared Services Joint Committee of 6 June 2025 Subject: Ayrshire Civil Contingencies Team 1. Purpose 1.1 The purpose of this report is to advise the Joint Committee on progress made against the current Ayrshire Civil Contingencies Team (ACCT) Service Plan for 2025/2026 (Appendix 1) and draw attention to any other work currently being undertaken or developed by the team. 2. Recommendation It is recommended that the Joint Committee: 2.1 Approve the progress made against the work plan for 2025/2026 3. Background 3.1 The ACCT has provided civil contingencies services on behalf of the three Ayrshire Councils since it was established in 2008. 3.2 The Team has a responsibility to ensure the provision of the following key requirements on behalf of the North, South and East Ayrshire Councils; • Operation of an on-call service to provide 24/7 response for Civil Emergencies as the Duty Officer(s) on behalf of any of the affected Councils. • Preparation of a consistent Civil Contingencies Response and Recovery Plan for approval and implementation by each of the 3 Councils. • Maintenance of an accurate and up to date Emergency Contact Directory for each of the 3 Councils. • Development and delivery of training programmes to ensure key staff within each Council know and understand their emergency roles and are prepared to respond to major incidents and civil emergencies. • Preparation and maintenance of Contingency Plans for specific sites, which are also tested on a multi-agency basis at 3 yearly intervals. • Maintenance of a range of plans to cover the response to emergencies of non- site specific risk. 3.3 This work is routinely monitored and evaluated by a Steering Group comprising the Head of Service from each Council with the responsibility for Civil Contingencies.
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2 4. Progress against our Service Plan. 4.1 Whilst the team reported a full complement of 3.5 at the December 2024 meeting, this was since been reduced to 3 since January 2025 (due to secondment) and again to two from April as there is currently one member of the team off sick and not expected back until mid-July at the earliest. This has had some impact on our progression of our workplan but not significantly so. 4.2 There has been continued focus since 2024 on internal training for those who will be required to assume the roles of Council Incident Officers and Council Incident Coordinators in the event of a major incident within any of the 3 Council areas. We are now about to do the second sessions for the year across the 3 councils where we will be focussing of Recovery and what it is. For the next session few sessions we are planning to do specific team sessions where we can look at incidents which will not have a full council impact, for example, the recent fire at Dalmilling which only affected a few services, for example, Housing and Building Standards. At the training in late May we were given some scenarios which senior officers would like to do as part of a smaller group within their own teams. We are also planning to have training for Survivor Reception Centres and Family and Friends Centres as part of our Care for People response; as recently the HSCPs agreed that they had the staff with the skills to assist Police Scotland in staffing these centres in advance of them arriving. 4.3 The ‘lunchtime learning’ initiative continues, which includes short, focused sessions for relevant Officers covering an overview of a recent incident by the multi-agency officers involved; the issues which arose and how these were resolved through the incident debrief. 4.4 The Emergency Contact Directories for the 3 Councils are currently being updated and will be issued for June 2025. These documents contain the contact details for all personnel who may need to be contacted to respond to a major emergency. 4.5 You may recall from the last report that we have Fail to Sail plans for both Arran and Cumbrae however additional work was required for consideration of looking after young people who were travelling alone. This has now been resolved and a solution has been found using the Arran Outdoor Centre. Additionally, we have carried out two training sessions for community volunteers to assist in the Care for People response on Arran and we now have six volunteers who have agreed to assist if required. ACCT led on the exercise planning for the multi-agency exercise which was held on 24 April and attended by over 50 responders and publicised in the Arran Banner. This exercise was considered very useful by those participating. 4.6 The work to prepare for a Power Resilience emergency continues within the three Local Authorities and all Council services are required to consider and plan for alternative models of service delivery during this type of incident. An alternative solution is still being sought for resilient communications as Starlink has been paused. 4.7 The 3 yearly review of a number of External Plans continues. The team is currently leading on the multi agency exercise and plan review for two COMAH sites, DM Beith Munitions and Chemring Energetics in Stevenston which is limited live play. Live play exercises take much more time and effort to plan and this will be taking place in the autumn of 2025. We have also updated some Multi Agency Incident Response Guides for Grissan in Girvan and for Barony in Irvine and Auchinleck.
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3 4.8 As well as the Arran exercise on 24 April, we also had an exercise for Kilmarnock FC which was also attended by Ayr United FC and gave both clubs an opportunity to test their plans during exercise scenarios. Ayr United now also have a Multi Agency Incident Response Guide plan for the stadium for the first time. 4.9 The team has significant involvement in the Council and multi agency preparation for the Ayrshow in September. The planned exercise for community events before the summer has not been able to be arranged and will be rescheduled for next year but we still hope to have an event for firework display organisers to ensure that they are aware of their legislative and health and safety responsibilities in hosting this type of event. 4.10 The ACCT has assisted in coordinating the response to a number of incidents and was highly involved in the response to the Red Weather warning on 24 January by coordinating the multi agency partners in advance of this and throughout the following weekend and into the next week. The debrief of this has been completed and the actions arising from it is being progressed by the Ayrshire Local Resilience Partnership’s Training Exercising and Learning subgroup which we attend. ACCT had involvement in the Battery Recycling Centre fire in Kilwinning on 9 April 2025 and are pleased to report that any learning from the previous incident was used and the response to the Care for People element was much smoother with the partners immediately establishing a Care for People group and using the agenda which was an action arising from the previous incident. 4.11 The team have not managed to progress the Battery Energy Storage Sites (BESS) Multi Agency Incident Response Guide due to our initial visit to the site in Lanarkshire being scheduled for the day of the battery recycling centre fire and the partners having to cancel but this has been rescheduled to 17 June when it is hoped it will proceed. Officers will, after this, be able to start developing a skeleton plan which they can use for all the sites across Ayrshire. 4.12 It is proposed that the Joint Committee notes and approves the work to date which is also reflected in the ACCT Service Plan at Appendix 1 and approves the workplan. 5. Legal and Procurement Implications 5.1 The recommendations in this report are consistent with legal requirements. 5.2 There are no procurement implications arising from this report. 6. Financial Implications 6.1 Not applicable. 7. Human Resources Implications 7.1 Not applicable. 8. Risk 8.1 Risk Implications of Adopting the Recommendations
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4 8.1.1 There are no risks associated with adopting the recommendations. 8.2 Risk Implications of Rejecting the Recommendations 8.2.1 Rejecting the recommendations may give rise to external criticism, breach of statute or legal challenge. 9. Equalities 9.1 The proposals in this report allow scrutiny of performance. The report does not involve proposals for policies, strategies, procedures, processes, financial decisions and activities (including service delivery), both new and at review, that affect the Council’s communities and employees, therefore an equality impact assessment is not required. Any specific island issues are considered in the report. 10. Sustainable Development Implications 10.1 Considering Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) - This report does not propose or seek approval for a plan, policy, programme or strategy or document otherwise described which could be considered to constitute a plan, programme, policy or strategy. 11. Options Appraisal 11.1 An options appraisal has not been carried out in relation to the subject matter of this report. 12. Link to Council Plan 12.1 The matters referred to in this report contribute to the delivery of all Council strategic objectives. 13. Results of Consultation 13.1 There has been no public consultation on the contents of this report. Person to Contact Lesley Jeffery – Civil Contingencies Coordinator, ACCT. Catriona Caves, Head of Service, South Ayrshire Council. River Terrace, Ayr Phone 01292 616289 E-mail: Lesley.jeffery@south-ayrshire.gov.uk or catriona.caves@south-ayrshire.gov.uk Date: 23 May 2025
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5 Ayrshire Civil Contingencies Team – Service Plan (2025/26) - Appendix 1
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6 Introduction 1.1 The Ayrshire Civil Contingencies Service Plan covers the period 2025/2026 and sets out what we intend to achieve over the next year based on the resources available to us. 1.2 Effective Contingency Planning is crucial to the achievement of the combined objectives of North, South and East Ayrshire Councils and the success of the strategic operation and delivery of all Council Services. The Ayrshire Civil Contingencies Team (ACCT) is responsible for developing and delivering a work plan that ensures compliance in respect of statutory obligations and endeavours to support all Council services embed robust contingency planning arrangements. The team will support the 3 Councils and relevant multi-agency partners to ensure that response and recovery in the event of adverse incidents is efficient and carefully planned. 1.3 Actions have been formulated and form the basis of the ACCT Work Plan. This is reported on and scrutinised quarterly by the Ayrshire Civil Contingencies Steering Group comprising of the Head of Service from each Council with the responsibility for Civil Contingencies. The 3 Ayrshire Council Shared Service Joint Committee has a remit to approve the plan and/or progress made on a 6 monthly basis. We have agreed challenging targets for the team in order to continuously improve the way we work and to take account of the statutory obligations imposed on all 3 Councils as Category 1 responders in line with Civil Contingencies legislation. 1.4 By planning and monitoring our progress for 2025-2026 we aim not only to contribute to the achievement of the strategic objectives of the 3 Ayrshire Councils but also support our colleagues within Health and Social Care, NHS Ayrshire and Arran, the Emergency Services and a wide range of multi- agency responders. These partners form the core membership of the Ayrshire Local Resilience Partnership (ALRP). 2 Profile 2.1 The Ayrshire Civil Contingencies Team has a responsibility to ensure the provision of the following key requirements on behalf of the 3 Councils; • Operation of an on-call service to provide 24/7 response for Civil Emergencies as the Duty Officer(s) on behalf of any of the affected Councils. • Preparation of a consistent Civil Contingencies Response and Recovery Plan for approval and implementation by each of the 3 Councils. • Maintenance of an accurate and up to date Emergency Contact Directory for each of the 3 Councils. • Development and delivery of training programmes to ensure key staff within each Council know and understand their emergency roles and are prepared to respond to major incidents and civil emergencies. • Preparation and maintenance of Contingency Plans for specific sites, which are also tested on a multi-agency basis at 3 yearly intervals. • Maintenance of a range of plans to cover the response to emergencies of non-site specific risk. 2.2 To date the service is working within an overall net revenue budget for the team of £164,270 (2024-2025). It is delivered utilising a workforce of 3.5 FTE, however long-term absence has been impacting staffing provision since August 2022; firstly with the ACCT Coordinator who was off long term until the appointment of Lesley Jeffery in the Coordinator role in April 2024 and the appointment of the Officer role in July 2024 and we currently have an officer who has been on sick leave since mid April . Please note that we are currently reduced to 3FTE staff. 2.3 The income for the team will be substantially reduced going forward as there is no longer as much work required for Hunterston B planning now that the site is defueled. The team has agreed to develop a MAIRG (Multi Agency Incident Response Guide) for the site and for Hunterston A now that it can no longer be included in Hunterston B planning but this will be at
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7 a significantly reduced cost (if any) as we can only charge for exercise planning and plan review. 3 How are we doing? 3.1 Demanding performance targets are set through the Performance Development and Review (PDR) process. This helps us embed a culture of improvement within the team and aims to ensure the achievement of outcomes within the Service Plan. These are further articulated through team meetings where assigned activities are monitored and assessed. Prioritising workloads and establishing clear deadlines are key features on the allocation of tasks. 3.2 The Team’s performance is tracked and measured using the South Ayrshire Council Performance Management System approach, and new initiatives progressed as the contingencies planning landscape evolves. The team is actively supported and encouraged to consider opportunities to introduce new and innovative ways of working. 3.3 There has been an investment in training for the team and officers have the opportunity to attend external events and participate in a range of external or multi-agency forums which help ensure knowledge of best practice in Civil Contingencies. We hope that this will continue. 3.4 Areas identified for improvement are being taken forward and these include more regular refresher training opportunities for key Council managers and the further development of online e-Learning training in Civil Contingencies to extend the reach and breadth of core skills across a wider range of participants within North, South and East Ayrshire Councils. 4. The challenges we face 4.1 These are outlined as follows: - • External An increase in adverse and concurrent incidents, emergency or weather events stretch existing resources in terms of ensuring that Civil Contingencies responses are well planned and tested. Additional high-profile events, which rely on Council support also place considerable pressure on available time and expertise. Legislative change or amendment to government policy will also impact workloads. • Internal Conflicting priorities and resourcing pressures across a number of service areas can expose gaps in terms of demonstrating a fully corporate approach to the implementation of well embedded Contingency Planning. There can often be challenges in terms of persuading services of the business benefits in preparing and testing contingency plans. 5. Detailed Service Plan 5.1 The strategic outcomes for all 3 Councils are underpinned by having robust processes for risk management and resilience. How we intend to contribute to the successful achievement of the 3 Ayrshires’ objectives is set out in the detail in the ACCT Service Plan on the following pages. 6. Governance 6.1 The progress made by the ACCT is analysed on a quarterly basis by the 3 Council Civil Contingencies Steering Group. The Service Plan will be developed on an annual basis and subject to approval and scrutiny by the Shared Service Joint Committee. Plans, Procedures and Guidelines It is important to note that by its very nature Civil Contingencies work activity is often reactive and the team endeavour to respond to events and circumstances as they arise. The Councils’ Civil Contingencies Response and Recovery Plans are deliberately generic and provide a framework which allows for speedy response to emergencies as they arise. The Service Plan will therefore be regularly updated as and when required.
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8 Copies of the ACCT and other resilience documents are hosted on each Council’s Resilience Direct page and on their shared drive system - access is limited to those who have a key role responding to an emergency - the links are noted below. South Ayrshire - ACCT on Sharepoint East Ayrshire - ACCT on Shared Drive North Ayrshire - on Resilience Direct Update Prepared – 23 May 2025
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9 APPENDIX 1 Ayrshire Civil Contingencies Team - Work Plan for April 2025 to March 2026 The following tables outline key contingencies plans, training and exercises for the Civil Contingencies Team. It includes work activity ongoing or completed within 2024 and further actions for 2025-2026. The ACCT is either leading on these or providing support to other agencies on their development. It also includes reference to Civil Contingencies sub-groups which may be contributed to by ACCT. Internal Plans / Training and Exercises led by ACCT Target Date for next review Civil Contingencies Response & Recovery - SAC (Review) S March 2025 June 2025 Civil Contingencies Response & Recovery – NAC (Review) N March 2025 June 2025 Civil Contingencies Response & Recovery – EAC (Review) E March 2025 June 2025 Local Incident Room Guidelines – SAC (Exercise) S Ongoing COMPLETE Major Accident Hazard Gas Pipelines - Ayrshire Plan (Review and Exercise) N S E December 2023 (D) August 2025 Care for People – Emergency Support Centres Guidelines (Review & Exercise) N S E ongoing Black Start and Power Resilience Recovery (Councils) N S E ongoing Emergency Contact Directories (biannual updates June and December) N S E June 2025 Pandemic Influenza Plan N S E June 2025 Incident Management Training – 3 sessions per year December 2025 Note: • South Ayrshire Pandemic Influenza plan is complete and has been shared with BC colleagues in North and East for their view • Incident Management Training has been arranged for all three councils for 3 sessions each in 2025. Internal Plans / Training and Exercises led by ACCT – completed for 24/25 Mobile Telephone Privileged Access System (MTPAS) N S E December 2025 eLearning package for Community Support Centres / Care for People Awareness N S E December 2025 eLearning package for Civil Contingencies Awareness N S E December 2025 eLearning Civil Contingencies package for Elected Members (Develop) N S E December 2025 Former Station Hotel, Ayr - Major Incident Response Guide (MAIRG) S This plan has been deleted as it is no longer required June 2025 Fuel Disruption Plan - Fleet Management N S E December 2025 Local Incident Room Guidelines - SAC S (and review of East Ayrshire) June 2025 August 2025 Shoreline Response Plan (Develop) N S tbc The above Plans / Training will be reviewed again prior to financial year end 2025/26. Target dates have been amended in May 2025 via the Ayrshire Shared Service Panel report. Any additional work activity identified will also be included within the report. External Plans / Training and Exercises led by ACCT Target Date for completion Defence Munitions Beith External Contingency Plan (Review & Exercise) N 2026 Hunterston B Offsite Contingency Plan (Review and Exercise) N (revised plan requested by Office for Nuclear Regulation) Reviewed January 2025 Hunterston B Offsite Contingency Plan (Redacted Version) N (revised plan requested by Office for Nuclear Regulation) Completed February 2024 DSM (Dutch State Mining) Nutritional Products Contingency Plan (Review & Exercise) N August 2026 Chivas Brothers – Balgray and Willowyard (Review & Exercise) N March 2027 Chemring, Stevenston External Contingency Plan (Review & Exercise) N November 2025 Spaceport COMAH Plan (prepared in conjunction with identified partner) S On hold Wm Grants External Contingency Plan (Review & Exercise) S November 2027 Avian Flu Carcass Disposal Plan December 2025 Arran Fail to Sail Plan (N) April 2025 Arran Care for People Response (N) April 2025 Cumbrae Fail to Sail Plan (N) Complete Review 2027 Hunterston B Flask Removal Plan (N) Complete Multi Agency Response Guide for Grissan, Girvan (S) Complete Review 2027 Care for People Review (All) March 2025 August 2025
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10 Learning from Incidents Training sessions (new initiative for 2023) (All) Ongoing Community Events Tabletop Exercise (All) (NEW) – rescheduled to 2026 May 2025 May 2026 Community Fireworks Tabletop Exercise (All) (NEW) August 2025 Note: • Care for People review is ongoing but is taking longer than expected. External Plans / Training and Exercises - Working with Multi Agency Partners Lead Target Date for completion Hunterston B – Training and Exercising Programme N EDF Ongoing Black Start and Power Resilience Recovery (Multi Agency) MA ALRP Ongoing Radiation Monitoring Unit Arrangements N (delayed – awaiting SG decisions) ALRP TBC WoSRRP Mass Fatalities Arrangements - (Review and Exercise) MA WoSRRP TBC by WoSRRP Marine Pollution Response Plan - Girvan Harbour (Biannual Notification Exercise, Review Plan & Table Top Ex Carrick) S MA ARA ongoing Animal Health MAIRGs (Review) MA EH&TS Complete Glasgow Prestwick Airport Multi Agency Contingency Plan S MA GPA Complete Review October 2027 Ayrshire Safer Shores Initiative Response Arrangements N S MA Police May 2025 ALRP Disruptive Weather Response Arrangements MA ALRP Complete Kilmarnock Football Club E MA Exercise is taking place on 7 March 2025 with Ayr United FC KFC October 2027 Kilmarnock Prison E MA Scottish Prison Service TBC Develop ALRP Generic Response Guide (for Initial Response) ACCT March 25 Develop ALRP Response Guide / Plan to Battery Energy Storage Site (BESS) Facilities ACCT / SFRS March 25 September 25 Participate in development of ALRP Response Guide to Foxgrove facility NHS December 2024 DELAYED Port Health Plan NEW NHS / SAC December 2025 Note: • Further discussions will take place on the required changes for Hunterston B as it moves out of REPPIR legislation in early 2025. • Foxgrove plan is delayed as it has not yet been handed over to NHS Supported Tasks - Participation at Sub Groups Lead Agency Update Community and Business Resilience Sub Group (developing and sharing best practice) MA WoSRRP Ongoing Training, Exercising and Learning Sub Group (developing and sharing best practice) MA WoSRRP Ongoing Warning and Informing the Public – Media Plans, Websites MA Councils Ongoing Ukraine Tactical ALRP Sub Group MA Councils Subsumed into other groups ALRP Power Resilience MA Councils Ongoing Provide Secretariat to Ayrshire Local Resilience Partnership (ALRP) MA ACCT Ongoing Community Resilience (provide advice and support to local community councils and resilience groups – ad hoc) MA ACCT Ongoing Colour coded abbreviations Work undertaken on behalf of North Ayrshire N Work undertaken on behalf of South Ayrshire S Work undertaken on behalf of East Ayrshire E Work undertaken on behalf of ALRP or other agencies MA (Multi Agency) Lesley Jeffery ACCT Coordinator 23 May 2025