London Resilience Partnership

Multi-agency collaboration to prepare for emergencies in London is not new. The London Emergency Services Liaison Panel first met in 1973 and continues to provide guidance on improving the abilities of emergency responders to work together.

The London Resilience Team was formally created in 2002. However from 1998 a multi-agency team had been planning collectively to mitigate and prepare for risks associated with Year 2000.

From 2002 - 2010 the London Resilience Team was part of the Government Office for London. The team included representatives from different sectors, including:

• emergency services
• local authorities
• utility companies
• transport organisations.

The enactment of the Civil Contingencies Act in 2004 broadened our responsibilities, establishing new duties for agencies involved in planning and response.

In 2010 London Resilience Team transferred from the Government Office for London to the Greater London Authority. The Chair of the London Resilience Forum is now appointed by the Mayor of London. This provides for greater local oversight and governance of resilience arrangements in London. 

In February 2015, our team transferred to London Fire Brigade to work alongside the Operational Resilience Unit and Emergency Planning Team but specifically delivering the Mayor’s responsibilities for resilience.

In October 2016, London Resilience Team and the London Fire Brigade Emergency Planning Team combined to form London Resilience, a collective unit delivering services on behalf of both the Mayor of London, London's Local Authorities and London Fire Brigade.

London continues to grow and change, so it's important that arrangements and capabilities developed for emergencies remain fit for purpose.

We remain responsible for ensuring London’s preparedness in the event of emergencies. We ensure that lessons from incidents are incorporated into London’s procedures to maintain London's position as a resilient city.

The London Resilience Partnership Strategy provides more details on the vision for resilience in London, and information about how emergency preparedness is structured.

We use the definition of ‘emergency’ provided in the Civil Contingencies Act (2004), which is:

• an event or situation which threatens serious damage to human welfare;
• an event or situation which threatens serious damage to the environment; or
• war or terrorism which threatens serious damage to security.

Our strategy defines ‘resilience’ as:

"an enabler which helps London to survive and prosper. It is the ability of institutions and communities to work together to prevent, handle then recover and learn from disruption, and adapt to change."