Question reference: S5W-29889
- Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
- Date lodged: 15 June 2020
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Current status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 13 July 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it last assessed the capability of local authority emergency planning/resilience teams to deal with nuclear accidents or other similar emergencies.
Answer
The regulatory assessment of local authority capability in terms of nuclear response is reserved the UK Government and is carried out by the independent regulator, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR).
The regulations require a review and testing of plans within a three year period, unless otherwise agreed with the Regulator.
For licensed nuclear sites in Scotland, and some defence sites, the off-site nuclear emergency plans were assessed by ONR on the following dates
Argyll & Bute Council - 30 August 2018
The Highland Council - 6 June 2019
North & South Ayrshire County Councils - 12 June 2019
East Lothian Council - 27 September 2017
In addition to ONR’s formal assessment, Scottish Government officials are able to consider the preparedness and capability of all multi-agency partners by being fully committed to the planning, training, exercising and learning processes in Scotland; a tried and tested method supported by Scottish Government’s Preparing Scotland guidance.
Scottish Government regularly participates in the planning and delivery of REPPIR exercises as well as the development and review of off-site plans to ensure that government response arrangements are integrated with the Local Authorities and other responders.
One recent example was Exercise Aquila where Scottish Government officials supported the multi-agency planning, preparation, delivery and learning processes , to test the offsite emergency arrangements in place for Hunterston B Power Station, to ensure that it met all of the objectives agreed by the Office of the Nuclear Regulator (ONR).
The West of Scotland Regional Resilience Partnership (WoSRRP) co-ordinators, in addition to forming part of the planning team, participated in the exercise itself to provide the initial Scottish Government Liaison Officer (SGLO) response in support of all responders at tactical and strategic levels. They were augmented by Scottish Government Liaison Officers (SGLOs) from Scottish Government Resilience Division.
The interaction on the part of the Scottish Government was simulated by officials from the Response & Policy Engagement Team, who ran the Scottish Government Resilience Room (SGoRR) within St Andrews House in Edinburgh.
A subsequent structured debrief involving all participants and the ONR, was conducted by the WoSRRP Co-ordination team. This resulted in an in-depth debrief report/ lessons learned being submitted to the ONR and contributing to their assessment that the exercise met the requirements of the Radiation Emergency Preparedness and Public Information Regulations.