---

Terrorism

The then Home Secretary, my right honourable friend Jacqui Smith, announced in her Statement on 14 November 2007 (Official Report, Vol 467, col. 44WS) the outcome of my review on how best we protect crowded places from terrorist attack. This review concluded that further improvements would be achieved by putting in place a number of initiatives. These included publishing, after further consultation, guidance on a new strategic national framework to encourage greater partnership working at the local level and doing more to protect buildings from terrorism from the design stage onwards. We published for public consultation on 20 April 2009 two documents that set out the Government’s approach to reducing the vulnerability of crowded places to terrorist attack. The consultation period ran for 12 weeks and concluded on 10 July 2009 and was supported by a series of stakeholder events in the English regions and in Scotland and Wales. We received 103 written responses, (mainly from private and public sector organisations). We have been very pleased with the level of engagement a wide range of partners have had with the consultation process. We are also pleased that most respondents thought that the Government’s approach, with its emphasis on identifying and describing the potential contributions key stakeholders could make, was the right one. In the light of the consultation exercise, the Government are publishing today a number of documents. Working Together to Protect Crowded Places relates to the United Kingdom as a whole and whilst reflecting the differing arrangements in the devolved Administrations, it aims to encourage greater partnership working at the local level between local authorities, other local partners and in particular businesses. Crowded Places: The Planning System and Counter-Terrorism is jointly published by the Home Office and the Department for Communities and Local Government and is sharply focused on guidance that is directly relevant to the role of planning officers. Whilst this document applies only to England, it will be of interest to devolved Administrations in considering what guidance they might offer within the context of their own planning systems. Protecting Crowded Places: Design and Technical Issues is jointly published by the Home Office, the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) and the police National Counter-Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO). It contains design and technical counterterrorism protective security guidance that will be of particular interest to architects and designers and their clients. We are also publishing today on the Home Office website an impact assessment and an accompanying equality impact assessment, including the Government’s response to its recommendations. We will keep our overall approach contained in the published documents under review to ensure that it delivers the proportionate reductions in the vulnerabilities of crowded places that we want to see. Copies of the documents published today will be placed in the House Library.