Strategic coordinating group

The term has two related uses in the sources.

In Scotland it is a statutory name. Regulation 5 of the Contingency Planning Regulations 2005 requires the general Category 1 responders with functions in a Scottish local resilience area to co-operate with the other Category 1 responders there "in a single forum", and regulation 5(3) says this "is referred to in these Regulations as the 'strategic co-ordinating group'". It must meet at least once every six months. In England and Wales the same standing forum is called the local resilience forum.

The second use is the group convened during an emergency. Gov.uk guidance on emergency response and recovery says the local framework distinguishes single-agency command structures, "often termed gold, silver and bronze", from "the multi-agency co-ordination structures that may be convened at strategic, tactical and, exceptionally, at operational levels". Of Scotland it says "a strategic co-ordinating group may be established in each police force area to determine the strategy for the response and the appropriate management structures to co-ordinate the local inter-agency response". For Wales it says public health advice to strategic co-ordinating groups comes from health advisory teams. The guidance also notes that training for the central government response familiarises those in strategic co-ordination groups with the central structure.