‘Keep Calm and Carry On’: informing the public under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004

Part I of the Civil Contingencies Act (CCA) 2004 provides a framework that governs the planning and preparations for a wide range of potential emergencies. It requires the engagement and cooperation of numerous ‘public’ bodies, including central government, local authorities and the emergency services, as well as a range of ‘private’ organisations such as utilities companies. It is apparent that information plays a fundamental role in the Part I planning provisions and associated guidance. This article will focus on one specific information-related provision, namely the duty to maintain plans to warn and inform the public in the event of an emergency. It undertakes detailed analysis of the CCA 2004 provisions, secondary legislation and extensive government guidance regarding informing the public and related media-handling. It analyses these measures in light of two competing organisational models identified by Walker and Broderick as being present across various CCA 2004 arrangements. The tensions between traditional authoritarian ‘command’ structures on the one hand, and more flexible, decentralised arrangements, on the other, are particularly pronounced in the context of informing the public. They reflect the challenges of maintaining political authority while handling and disseminating information that is fluid in nature and evades control.