Report Detail:

Issued By the Home Office:
Substantial progress in strengthening Britain's defence against terrorism alongside an increased capacity to deal with any serious incident were outlined today by Home Secretary as he opened the Parliamentary debate on the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) annual report.

Setting out the established Government strategy to reduce the risk from international terrorism - prevention, pursuit, protection and preparedness - the Home Secretary praised the work of the police and intelligence agencies who continue to disrupt terrorist activity in the United Kingdom, against the backdrop of an ongoing heightened international threat.

While making clear that the Government's focus remains firmly on doing everything possible to prevent a terrorist attack, the Home Secretary also emphasised that readiness to respond to any major incident has advanced significantly over the last 12 months.

The Home Secretary said:
"Our police and intelligence agencies continue to do a superb job disrupting and foiling those who seek to attack Western interests, not just in the UK but worldwide. As the ISC recognises, terrorism is the biggest threat to our national security, which is why I am committed to ensuring that those organisations which protect us have the resources they need."

"I have announced funding increases that will boost the capacity of the Security Service by 50% over the next three years, an additional £15m for Special Branch policing and, as part of the spending review, additional future funding is now under immediate consideration."

"The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC), which is now a year-old, is a model of effective inter-agency working whose success is recognised by the ISC."

"While I continue to believe that we must do everything in our power to protect ourselves from the type of atrocity that devastated Madrid, or Istanbul, it is also essential that we put in place contingency measures to ensure that we can cope in the event of any major incident."

"Substantial progress has been made preparing for a wide-range of civil emergencies or attacks. Joint working is happening at both a national and local level, with the establishment of Regional Resilience Teams greatly strengthening the local response. The Civil Contingencies Bill, currently going through Parliament, will provide an enhanced framework to meet the challenges of the 21st century."

"Another example of our increased preparedness comes from the work of the CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) Resilience Programme. In practical terms, the programme has delivered training and equipment for personal protection, decontamination and detection across the emergency services, as well as clear guidance to stakeholders on how to manage the response to a CBRN incident."

"Our challenge is to stay one step ahead of the threat. We continue to run regular exercises to test out our systems and identify and overcome any vulnerabilities to our response. As well as the very public live exercises such as that at Bank Station last September, we also hold numerous tabletops with scenarios which include natural disasters and accidents as well as deliberate attacks and continue to plan for the joint UK / US exercise which will take place next year."

The four key elements of the Government's strategy for responding to security threats are:

Notes to editors:
The Home Secretary published an update to Parliament setting out improvements in contingency planning on 25 February 2004. This is available on the Home Office website www.homeoffice.gov.uk.
The Home Secretary published a discussion document exploring how best to protect society from terrorism while retaining personal freedoms on 25 February.
He also announced additional funding for the Security Service which will see their numbers increase by 50%.
Home Office press notice 07/02/2004 refers. £15m additional funding for Special Branch Policing was announced at the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting in Brussels on 19 March 2004.
Home Office press notice 127/2004 refers. The Intelligence and Security Committee Report was published on 29 June 2004 and is available at www.cabinet-office.gov.uk The Government Response to the Intelligence and Security Committee Report was published on 6 July 2004 and is available at http://www.cabinet-office.gov.uk Additional information can be found on the following websites:
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/terrorism - (what Government is doing, what you can do, legislation, threats, emergency procedures)
www.ukresilience.gov.uk - (the website of the Civil Contingencies Secretariat, includes emergency planning guidance)
www.mi5.co.uk - (threats, security advice for business, about the Security Service, how you can help)
As well as responsibility for the domestic security though counter-terrorist policy and legislation, the police, and the security and intelligence work of the Security Service (MI5), the Home Secretary also has a co-ordinating role. As chair of the Cabinet committees on terrorism and related issues, he supervises all counter-terrorism work across Government, to bring together the supporting work of Ministers in other departments. Through these committees he also oversees work across Government on 'resilience and contingency planning', i.e. preventing and responding to major crises, including terrorism.

Reference: 27/2004 - Date: 8 Jul 2004 14:05