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ARCHIVE: Flood Rescue National Enhancement

Defra has initiated a national project to improve flood rescue capability across England and Wales so that a comprehensive emergency response can be deployed and coordinated between all flood rescue service providers, including public, private and voluntary organisations.

Flood Rescue Grant Scheme

The first round of the Defra led Flood Rescue National Enhancement Grant Scheme is complete, with approximately £650k allocated to flood rescue organisations to help improve national capability. 

The money will help local flood resilience teams’ efforts to raise money to buy everything from boats to training sessions for flood rescue volunteers. All the equipment bought with the new money will be added to the National Asset Register of emergency resources that others can call upon in the event of a major flood.

The successful applicants for flood rescue funding are:

  • Humberside Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) will receive £125,000
  • Hampshire FRS will receive £117,000
  • Devon and Somerset FRS will receive £75,000
  • West Yorkshire FRS will receive £30,000
  • Northamptonshire FRS will receive £100,000
  • The RNLI will receive £126,000
  • Nottinghamshire Police will receive £26,000
  • British Red Cross to receive £25,000
  • A further £21,000 has also been allocated to 11 flood emergency groups to make small adjustments to their emergency capabilities.

Discussions are also ongoing with a number of further flood rescue organisations to discuss their bids in greater detail before a final decision can be made.

Defra now invite applications for the remaining £1.1m allocated funds. From the research carried out on asset requirement, it is clear that a gap exists between the number of assets existing and those that would be required in a major East Coast Inundation. Defra will therefore be looking at proposals for raising the number of both Type B and Type C teams (Descriptions of team types can be found in the FRCO). However, funding will not be limited to the contribution towards such teams, and consideration will be given to further innovative proposals for enhancing capability.

Applications for the remaining funding can be made to Defra until 31 January 2011 and should follow the format:

  • Title
  • Amount requested.
  • Timing.
  • Detail on what the grant will be spent on. Where will equipment be purchased from?
  • How will this grant improve capability.
  • Detail on whether this is the full amount or does this form a contribution to the overall spend.
  • Background information.

Note - any assets purchased either jointly or solely through this funding stream, must commit to be part of the National Asset Register for a minimum period of 5 years.

Information must be provided to Defra with specific details of exactly how much is being requested and exactly what will be purchased with any potential funding.

If you have any further queries, or require further information, please contact flood.rescue@defra.gsi.gov.uk.

Flood Rescue Concept of Operations (FRCO)

The Flood Rescue Concept of Operations (PDF 1MB) is now available.

A key aim of the Flood Rescue National Enhancement Project was to make more effective use of existing flood rescue capabilities through a comprehensive multi-agency Flood Rescue Concept of Operations including details for team typing  and national standards for training and equipment and clarity on command and coordination in a wide scale flooding event. This document aims to provide this.  

The FRCO sets out the framework for enhancing the capability and national co-ordination of flood rescue in England and includes the scope of the Flood Rescue National Enhancement Project (FRNEP), the framework for how agencies involved will respond to flooding incidents, and the processes for management and engagement of national assets and team types.

This document will also serve as a basis for co-ordination with other government departments, the blue-light services, and other agencies, in meeting the country’s requirements for flood rescue.

The FRCO also contains details of how to request mutual aid, replacing the temporary arrangements defined in the Requesting Mutual Aid Interim Guidance. This section can be found in Annex B of the FRCO.

If you have any further queries, or require further information, please contact flood.rescue@defra.gsi.gov.uk.

Flood Rescue Grant Scheme

Further to the funding being provided to flood rescue organisations that have put themselves forward for the Flood Rescue National Asset Register, Defra are pleased to announce the launch of the Flood Rescue Grant Scheme.

Defra invite flood rescue organisations who believe they are able to enhance national flood rescue capability to submit business cases for consideration for a proportion of the overall £2m designated budget. From the research carried out on asset requirement, it is clear that a gap exists between the number of assets existing and those that would be required in a major East Coast Inundation. Defra will therefore be looking at proposals for raising the number of both Type B and Type C teams (Descriptions of team types can be found in the FRCO). However, funding will not be limited to the contribution towards such teams, and consideration will be given to further innovative proposals for enhancing capability.

Note - any assets purchased either jointly or solely through this funding stream, must commit to be part of the National Asset Register for a minimum period of 5 years.

Information must be provided to Defra with specific details of exactly how much is being requested and exactly what will be purchased with any potential funding.

If you have any further queries, or require further information, please contact flood.rescue@defra.gsi.gov.uk.

National register of flood rescue capability

As part of the Flood Rescue National Enhancement Project, Defra invited all organisations who intend to provide specialist flood rescue services (in response to flooding) to register their capability by completing a self-certification questionnaire (Excel spreadsheet 76KB) and Appendix 1: Water Rescue Training Guidance (PDF 179KB). We have received a large number of completed questionnaires and based on these have assessed the number of teams that each respondent organisation could commit to the National Asset Register.  If you returned a completed questionnaire then you will have received, or will shortly receive, feedback detailing our assessment of the maximum number of teams your organisation could commit to the National Asset Register. 

We are now asking respondent organisations to give a final indication of commitment (FIC) of the number of teams they would be willing to commit to the National Asset Register by completing and returning an FIC Form (Excel spreadsheet 79KB).  This will enable us to allocate funds appropriately to organisations where they fall marginally short of the required standards in order to bring some or all of their teams up to the standards required for inclusion on the National Asset Register.  Further information can be found in the FIC Form (Excel spreadsheet 79KB).  Your completed FIC Form should be returned to flood.rescue@defra.gsi.gov.uk no later than three weeks from the date of Defra’s feedback letter to you. 

If your organisation has not yet submitted a self-certification questionnaire (Excel spreadsheet 76KB) it can still do so.  Completed questionnaires should be sent to flood.rescue@defra.gsi.gov.uk or to neil.pattinson@defra.gsi.gov.uk.

Flood Rescue Workshop feedback

A workshop was held with stakeholders on 22 June 2009 to establish the potential scope of a Flood Rescue Concept of Operations. The day was attended by some 40 representatives from search and rescue organisations and authorities in the UK.

Background information

Up to £2 million has been made available for the current spending review period (i.e. to 31 March 2011) to carry out the project. In Government’s response to Sir Michael Pitt’s final report, several outputs and milestones were defined that will be met through four distinct but interlinked workstreams;

  • Quantifying current capabilities and rescue capacity to create a national register of capable flood rescue assets.
  • Making more effective use of existing flood rescue capabilities through a comprehensive multi-agency Flood Rescue Concept of Operations, team typing and accreditation systems, supported by a flood rescue ‘operations manual’ and national ‘standards’ for training and equipment. [NB: The Concept of Operations and associated documents should be regularly updated and consideration will be given to who will ultimately become custodian of these project outputs in subsequent years after the end of the project.]
  • Identifying any capability gaps and making recommendations for addressing them.
  • Ensuring certainty, clarity and consistency in major flood rescue approach by communicating and testing the outcomes of this project with all Local Resilience Forums, statutory and voluntary flood rescue providers.

Contact us

If you have any further queries, or require further information, please contact flood.rescue@defra.gsi.gov.uk or Neil Pattinson at neil.pattinson@defra.gsi.gov.uk.

Page last modified: 08 December 2010
Page published: 10 March 2009