Lead government department

The Be Ready website says the UK Government "uses a Lead Government Department model to cover all phases of emergency planning, response, recovery and risk assessment". Lead government departments are responsible for leading the work to identify serious risks and for having the right planning, response and recovery arrangements in place.

Gov.uk guidance on emergency response and recovery says that when central government support or co-ordination is needed, "a designated lead government department (LGD) or, where appropriate, a devolved administration, will be made responsible for the overall management of the central government response". In the most serious cases that response is co-ordinated through COBR. The guidance notes that the devolved administrations take on some of the lead department responsibilities that UK departments carry out in England, and that the balance between them depends on the nature of the emergency and the devolution settlements.

A published list of lead government departments and their responsibilities for planning, response and recovery is on gov.uk, linked from both pages. The Resilience Action Plan 2026 implementation report says the COBR Directorate co-ordinates lead departments as needed.