Partner working

How we work with other organisations

We work very closely with St Helens Borough Council's dedicated Emergency Planning Team and with colleagues from other councils across Merseyside. We also work with agencies including:

• Merseyside Police
• Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service
• North West Ambulance Service
• The Environment Agency
• Health agencies

These are known as Category 1 responders.

We also work with Category 2 responders:

• Utility companies
• Transport operators
• National Highways
• The Health and Safety Executive (HSE)

We also work with:

• Armed Forces
• Voluntary organisations
• Representatives from various faith organisations

We work with these organisations during times of emergencies but also on a day-to-day basis as part of the Local Resilience Forum (LRF).

The LRF brings together all agencies with a significant role to play in preparing for, responding to and recovering from the effects of emergencies. Together we write 'multi-agency' plans. The plans detail how local services will work together to respond to any type of emergency. Every plan is regularly updated, exercised and amended. Staff identified in plans are trained to ensure that they are competent to carry out their duties.

An LRF structure is a requirement of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. Our LRF is known as the Merseyside Resilience Forum (MRF) and members are Chief Executives and senior members of staff from the agencies mentioned above. It is chaired by Merseyside Police and meets at least twice a year.