Received from: Prospect
Congress welcomes the government’s intention to review of UK resilience.
The national risk register identifies vulnerabilities related to national security, natural and environmental hazards, transport infrastructure, and human, animal and plant health.
These risks are intensified by further public sector budget cuts, attacks on public-interest regulation, and long-term failure to invest in the skilled staff who are essential to maintain and operate these essential systems and services.
The frontline of scientific resilience work has rarely looked so vulnerable. Whether deployed in research, monitoring and warning systems, or emergency response, this capacity needs to be protected and enhanced as we meet and increasingly complicated and dangerous array of threats.
Congress therefore calls on the General Council to press for government action to:
i. ensure that all relevant bodies, including incident responders, are fully resourced and invest to retain and develop their skilled staff.
ii. redress the balance between core and competitive funding for research and innovation and provide longer-term budget certainty.
iii. enhance cross-departmental collaboration to ensure that knowledge and good practice are shared effectively.
iv. lead a national debate about the importance of this work and counter the rising tide of misinformation in the public domain.
Prospect
AMENDMENT
Add to end of first sentence:
“and the publication for the first time of a version of the Chronic Risks Analysis, including climate change, along with guidance on how this can be used by policy makers, resilience practitioners and businesses.”
FDA