The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 placed new duties on local authorities in their emergency planning role.  As a result of this, and previous guidance, the DCSF strongly recommended that schools should have their individual emergency plan to develop their resilience should an emergency occur.

In Wakefield, the Family Services Emergency Planning and Business Continuity Manager has worked closely with the Corporate Emergency Planning Team and schools within the district to develop the guidance and templates within the following pages and together have run a number of workshops for Headteachers, Principals, Governors and support staff since 1999 in order to raise awareness and preparedness within schools and early years settings.