Government announces £5m
extra funding to protect crowded places from terrorist attacks
HOME OFFICE News
Release (068/2009) issued by COI News Distribution Service on 20
April 2009
An extra £5million
to protect the public from the threat of terrorist attacks in
crowded places was announced by Security Minister Lord West today.
The funding comes as a public consultation is published on how
local authorities, businesses, the police and communities can work
together to better secure the places where we live, work and play.
New guidance will help local partners understand their roles and
the practical difference they can make to reduce the vulnerability
of public areas like pubs, clubs, shopping centres, sports stadia
and schools.
They will be able to prioritise their work based on advice from
police Counter Terrorism Security Advisers (CTSAs) who for the
first time are carrying out a standardised risk assessment of
crowded places across the country.
Lord West said:
"There is no greater priority for the Government than the
safety and security of the public, and all parts of society have
important contributions to make.
"The review that I conducted into crowded places showed that
a substantial amount of work has been undertaken to increase
levels of protective security in our crowded places. But we need
to do more to turn available advice into proportionate action on
the ground.
"This is not a job for the Government or police alone. We
will achieve this by better engaging local authorities, local
partners and in particular businesses to encourage them to
implement counter-terrorist security advice. That is the purpose
of our consultation document 'Working Together to Protect
Crowded Places'. We are also launching today practical advice
to those involved in planning and building our crowded places on
how to design out vulnerabilities to terrorism." Lord West
launched the crowded places consultation documents at a regional
event in Birmingham to lay out details of the Government's
revised counter terrorism strategy - 'CONTEST'.
The strategy - published on March 24 - builds on the successes of
the existing policy and provides the basis for a coordinated
approach to counter terrorism. It sets out principles which
provide the basis for the Government's response to terrorism.
Notes to editors
1. The Prime Minister announced a review of protective security
by Lord West on 25 July 2007 following the attempted terrorist
attacks on London and Glasgow airport. Lord West's report to
Parliament on 14 November 2007 concluded that a new approach was
needed to engage local partnerships in protecting crowded places
and to design out vulnerabilities to terrorism at the planning and
design stage.
2. Today's consultation documents deliver upon those
commitments, and reflect work carried out by the Office for
Security and Counter Terrorism (OSCT) in the Home Office in
conjunction with a wide range of partners including
representatives of professional bodies such as the Royal Institute
of British Architects (RIBA), the Royal Town Planning Institution
(RTPI) and the Commission for Architecture and the Built
Environment (CABE).
3. The Government is making available today a further £5 million
in 2009/10 to enable local authorities and local partnerships to
put into practice the advice in the consultation documents. This
is in addition to the extra £1.5 million already provided to
expand the number of police Counter Terrorism Security Advisers
(CTSAs) who are responsible for assessing risk and providing
specialist advice at local level.
5. "Crowded places" include:
* Bars, pubs and night clubs;
* Shopping centres;
*
Sports and entertainment stadia;
* Cinemas and theatres;
*
Visitor attractions;
* Restaurants and hotels;
* Major
events;
* Commercial centres;
* Health sector;
*
Education sector; and
* Religious sites/places of worship.
4. Sector-specific guidance is available from the National
Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) website (http://www.nactso.gov.uk).
Building on their existing work, NaCTSO and Counter Terrorism
Security Advisors (CTSA) have already produced and distributed
detailed protective security advice to more than 500 sports
stadia, 600 shopping centres and 10,000 city and town centre bars,
pubs and nightclubs.
5. The consultation can be accessed at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/
020 7035 3535