Emergency powers

Part 2 of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 is headed "Emergency powers". Gov.uk guidance on emergency response and recovery describes it as "the government's generic emergency powers legislation" and says emergency powers "are a last-resort option for responding to the most serious of emergencies where existing legislative provision is insufficient". They are "a mechanism for making temporary legislation in order to prevent, control or mitigate an aspect or effect of the emergency".

Section 20 lets Her Majesty by Order in Council, or a senior Minister of the Crown where an Order would involve serious delay, make emergency regulations when the three conditions in section 21 are met: an emergency has occurred, is occurring or is about to occur; provision is necessary to prevent, control or mitigate an aspect or effect of it; and the need is urgent. Section 24 requires the regulations to make a senior Minister appoint coordinators whose principal purpose is to facilitate coordination of activities under the regulations.

The guidance is firm that "there must be no expectation that the government will agree to use emergency powers and planning and response arrangements must assume that they will not be used". The gov.uk page on responder responsibilities adds that Part 2 updated the Emergency Powers Act 1920 and was brought into force in December 2004.