Everyone has a role to play in building our national resilience - Speech by Security Minister Dan Jarvis - Oct 21

At the Future Resilience Forum, Security Minister Dan Jarvis set out the Government's 'all of society' approach to building preparedness in a changing world.

"Before I begin, I want to welcome our international visitors to the UK, to London, and to Canary Wharf.

Now, even if this is your first time visiting Canary Wharf in person…

…I'm sure you'll have seen it on the big screen.

Some of Hollywood's most famous action sequences have been filmed here… 

…and you may recognise it from Batman Begins, Men in Black, or any number of the James Bond films.  

Sadly, my speech won't involve any dramatic chase scenes or high-tech gadgets. 

But I can offer you something that the old James Bond films had lots of…  

… bad jokes! 

You'll have to be resilient to put up with them. 

And you might want to take inspiration from your surroundings. 

Because when it comes to Canary Wharf, the fact is just as impressive as the fiction.

This area used to be the world's busiest shipping port… 

… but then, when that era came to an end, it transformed.

It's now one of London's most successful international finance centres. 

It adapted to the challenges of a changing world.

That's what resilience is… 

… and that's why it's such a fitting place for this Forum. 

This Forum demonstrates that resilience is needed in every part of our world. 

I don't just mean in every country – I mean in the literal world.

From the outer reaches of our atmosphere, where space security is of the utmost importance…

…to the very bottom of the sea, where underwater cables transmit over $10 trillion in global economic activity every single day. 

The very real fact is that the heavens and the depths are at risk if we do not act. 

Given the scale of this challenge – and our skyscraper backdrop – I run the risk of sounding like a wannabe Hollywood action hero myself.

I'm sure that I would not draw in as much of a crowd as Arnold Schwarzenegger or Tom Cruise…

…but I'm not sure that I'd want or need to.

Because as exciting as it is to see Arnie abseil down a skyscraper, or Tom Cruise hold his breath for a ridiculous amount of time… 

…I can't help but think that none of that would be necessary if someone or other in Government had done their job properly!  

So today, I want to talk about what we in the UK are doing to prioritise our resilience…

…and support our society, our economy, and our citizens to remain resilient.  

This work might not make a particularly riveting action film – but it is absolutely vital. 

I won't go into great detail about the threat landscape…

…because you are – no doubt – familiar with every landmark, every mountain, every body of water that crowds that overpopulated view. 

I think Lord Sedwill outlined this very well a moment ago…

…and his and Fiona's report suggests approaches which are worthy of consideration. 

But what I will say is that we are living through a period of profound change…

…and the view of that landscape is getting more clouded and obscured.

Now, in the UK, we're used to landscapes being transformed due to clouds and heavy rain…

…making them completely inhospitable.

But if we just take the last five years, as an example, we still start to understand how different threats complicate each other.

A pandemic that created huge unrest across the world…

…a war in Europe leading to the largest rearmament since the Second World War…

…a series of international financial pressures which have driven up inflation.

In the midst of this turbulence, there have been plenty of opportunities for hackers and criminals to target businesses and institutions…

…causing more chaos for our civilians. 

What's clear from these multiple events is one simple thing: 

…we need to be better prepared. 

And, as our Prime Minister put it in the National Security Strategy…

…when our freedom and democracy come under attack, our resolve is even more important. 

This resolve, this vigilance, remains a vital part of our overarching work on resilience. 

Whether that's our new Chronic Risks Analysis – which looks at the risk of sustained, long-term challenges like climate change…

…our work with the National Cyber Security Centre to ensure our society remains alive to threats online…

…or the National Risk Register, updated this January, reflecting our better understanding of changing and dynamic risks.

This strategic approach was at the very heart of our Resilience Action Plan, published in July.

It considers our approach in the short, medium and long term to resilience…

…outlines the work already undertaken to address this…

…and the work which will be needed in the future. 

It covers every potential risk which could affect our national infrastructure…

…from cyber-attacks to climate change, from space weather to power outages…

…and measures the UK's capabilities to meet these threats.

Importantly, it commits the UK to a ‘whole of society' approach to this work. 

So, while the UK Government absolutely plays the essential role in raising the level of resilience…

…it also recognises the work that everyone must undertake to remain resilient. 

So, how can Government support everyone to remain resilient?

Let me give you an example:

…a concern that you will remember from the Covid pandemic…

…namely, how we help the most vulnerable in our society. 

The Action Plan shows that first – we need to understand how risks not only impact vulnerable people…

…but how those risks can create new vulnerabilities. 

A new Risk Vulnerability Tool…

…available to Ministers and 10,000 civil servants across the country…

…will model these different crisis scenarios.

But we must also learn from how those vulnerable people got support during that crisis…

…and make that a considered part of our response. 

For example, we now know that – during Covid – our voluntary, community and faith sectors often supported those vulnerable people. 

So, the Action Plan outlines how the Government can work with these institutions in the future…

…so that they can play a more crucial role in national planning and crisis response.

It's just one example of how – through understanding our past mistakes in responding to risks – we can steadily become more resilient. 

Another is our new National Exercising Programme…

…which, I promise you, has nothing to do with sit-ups and jogging…

…but has everything to do with all UK nations and a variety of organisations, working together on an exercise to simulate a national emergency.

The most recent of these – Exercise Pegasus – simulated a pandemic arising from a novel infectious disease…

…involving thousands of different participants…

…making it the biggest exercise in UK history. 

I played a role in the exercise, where I chaired the COBR meeting at Ministerial level.

Fortunately, my involvement did not make the crisis any worse…

…but it did demonstrate to me how committed the entire system is to improving our response to emergencies.  

But it isn't enough to just learn from past mistakes…

…and ensure that procedures change…

…we also need to give our public sector the power and the confidence to act in a crisis.

Which is why one of the exciting projects of this year has been the new UK Resilience Academy. 

It will transform crisis training for thousands of public and private sector workers…

…training at least 4,000 people every year…

 …covering everything from business continuity planning to crowd management.

It will foster collaboration between institutions…

…from respected private, public, and third sector organisations…

…alongside regional, national and international communities.

As well as preparing public institutions for crises, we must also prepare the public. 

It is any government's first duty to keep people safe…

…which is why it's vital that we manage public safety when a crisis occurs…

…and we have undertaken a series of Emergency Alerts to do just that. 

The alert system was used in Northern Ireland and Scotland this January…

…when Storm Éowyn brought 80 mile per hour winds to the UK. 

It simply stated the potential danger and the importance of remaining safe.

We then ran a nationwide test of the emergency alert system last month…

 …which saw tens of millions of mobile phones sound an alarm at 3pm…

…with a plain English message, stating that it was a test of the Emergency Alerts System. 

There's some amazing videos online of city centres when the alerts went off on thousands of people's phones…

…in a way, it really brought the country together…

…it's just a shame such a unifying and important event was heralded by a siren-like alarm.  

But, in all seriousness, this is crucial work.

The Emergency Alert helps people react calmly…

…and gives them the information they need to stay safe. 

For the UK, our approach to resilience is a whole of society approach…

…where everyone has a role to play…

…and takes more of a responsibility to act in a safe and secure way. 

Improving national policy…

…strengthening our public institutions…

 …giving people the confidence and the information needed to stay safe. 

These are the core components of how we keep the UK resilient in the future. 

In the real world, resilience and security aren't about Hollywood dramatics…

…it is about measured and considered action.

The UK's approach is about every single part of our society working together…

…ensuring that we can meet the security challenges of today…

…and we remain more than resilient to tackle the challenges of the future. 

Thank you very much."