New UK Resilience Academy to help secure Britain’s future with “generational upgrade” in emergency training

Communities up and down the country are set to be better protected in the face of national crises from today [Monday April 28] as the government opens the UK Resilience Academy – helping to secure Britain's future as it delivers on the Plan for Change.

The cutting-edge centre will transform crisis training for thousands of public and private sector workers, with at least 4,000 people set to be trained at the Academy's North Yorkshire campus every year, on courses covering everything from business continuity planning, to crowd management and crisis communications.

The UK Resilience Academy, which will train citizens, businesses, the emergency services, the Armed Forces and the Civil Service, will sit at the heart of a newly formed network of public and private sector organisations - including the College for National Security and the Defence Academy - who have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work together to improve the quality and accessibility of resilience training. 

Today's announcement comes as the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster unveils new software that will allow decision makers to identify groups that are vulnerable to particular risks, by mapping real-time crisis data alongside demographic statistics.

The Risk Vulnerability tool is now available to 10,000 ministers and civil servants across Whitehall and the Devolved Nations. It has been developed by the National Situation Centre and the Office for National Statistics, and will feed directly into government decision making during future crises. 

Pat McFadden, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said: 

“Our first duty is to keep people safe - and through our Plan for Change, we are creating strong and resilient communities across the country. 

“Today, we're making a generational upgrade to crisis training for thousands of workers, and helping decision makers identify vulnerable groups in a crisis. This is all part of our plan to secure Britain's future.”

In extreme cold weather, the software would show demographic data, such as households that rely either on gas or electricity, or areas with elderly people who would need support with food supplies, alongside near real-time data such as live weather warnings and power outages, helping decision-makers target support to those most in need. When planning for potential flooding, ministers and officials can identify areas where people have less mobility, and target these if evacuation is needed.

This capability will strengthen the government's approach to crisis management and better protect vulnerable people - learning from past events such as the Covid-19 pandemic. 

ENDS 

Notes to editors 

The UKRA is funded by the revenue generated from the training offered by the academy and use of the site.

The opening comes as the government today announces the biggest upgrade to occupational standards for emergency workers in a generation. The Workforce Development Trust has worked with the government and other organisations to develop the refreshed standards for Resilience and Emergencies, which set a new national benchmark for workers to develop essential skills and job expertise, also published today.  

Agencies that have signed a Memorandum of Understanding or have expressed an interest in signing and will form a part of the network led by the UK Resilience Academy include. To note, these are strictly embargoed until 0001 Monday, April 28 due to commercial sensitivities: 

• Institute for Strategic Risk Management 

• Resilience First 

• Defence Academy

• Local Resilience Forum Training & Exercising Community Forum

• Fire Service College

• International Fire Training College

• National Consortium for Societal Resilience 

• Government Campus 

• College for National Security 

• REACT

• Communities Prepared

• Institute for Civil Protection and Emergency Management

• Institute for Strategic Risk Management (ISRM) 

• Emergency Planning Society 

• Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Programme (JESIP)

• Met Office

• Centre for Whole of Society Resilience 

• Centre for Long Term Resilience 

The Cabinet Office will also publish crisis management policy documents on Monday, in line with its commitment to transparency. 

• The Amber Book is an update to the government's risk-agnostic national crisis response framework. This update was committed to as part of the Government's response to the Covid Inquiry Module 1 report.

• Identifying people who are vulnerable in a crisis is a central update for local emergency responders, supporting the development of local action plans for identifying and supporting individuals and groups who may be vulnerable in an emergency. 

The UK Resilience Academy's residential campus includes a lecture theatre, classrooms, conference centre and on-site accommodation on the Hawkhills estate in Yorkshire - a site that has played a role in civil defence for more than 80 years, most recently as the Emergency Planning College. The Academy will build on this tradition, ensuring the whole country can tackle the most complex challenges of the day.