Civil Contingencies Act 2004
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| Long title | An Act to make provision about civil contingencies. |
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| Citation | 2004 c 36 |
| Introduced by | Douglas Alexander |
| Territorial extent | England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but where this Act amends or repeals an enactment or a provision of an enactment, the amendment or repeal has the same extent as the enactment or provision. |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 18 November 2004 |
| Commencement | 10 December 2004 |
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Status: Current legislation
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| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Revised text of statute as amended | |
The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (c 36) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that establishes a coherent framework for emergency planning and response ranging from local to national level. It also replaces former Civil Defence and Emergency Powers legislation of the 20th century.
The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 repeals the Civil Defence Act 1948 and the Civil Defence Act (Northern Ireland) 1950. Part 1 of the Act establishes a new definition for “emergency”, which is broadly defined. The definition includes war or attack by a foreign power, which were defined as emergency under previous legislation, as well as terrorism which poses a threat of serious damage to the security of the United Kingdom and events which threaten serious damage to human welfare in a place in the United Kingdom or to the environment of a place in the United Kingdom. Previous legislation, which was enacted during or after the Second World War, provided for civil protection solely in terms of "civil defence", which was defined as "measures, other than actual combat, for affording defence against a hostile attack by a foreign power". The Act also broadens the number of local bodies which have duties in the event of an emergency, previous legislation only related to local authorities, police authorities and certain fire authorities. Neither strand had seen any significant amendments in a number of years and were not deemed able to cope in the event of domestic threats to services such as the fuel protests of 2000 or natural threats like the mass flooding in 2000 and the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in 2001.
In the wake of these three events, the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, announced a formal review into emergency planning arrangements. The review included a public consultation exercise, which generally supported the Government's conclusion that existing legislation was no longer adequate and that new legislation was required. A draft Bill was scrutinised in detail by the Joint Committee on the Draft Civil Contingencies Bill, which was very influential in shaping the legislation but several proposals of which (especially for a new agency) were rejected.
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