Under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 a multi agency Local Resilence Forum is established in each policing area consisting of Category One responders, primarily the emergency services and local authorities, and includes the Environment Agency and health authorities and Category 2 responders.

Representatives from each organisation meet at least six monthly in order to ensure a co-ordinated approach in fulfilling the requirements of the Act namely to:-

Assess the risk of emergencies occurring and use this to inform contingency planning;
Put in place emergency plans
Put in place business continuity management arrangements;
Put in place arrangements to make information available to the public about civil protection matters and maintain arrangements to warn, inform and advise the public in the event of an emergency;
Share information with other local responders to enhance co-ordination;
Co-operate with other local responders to enhance co-ordination and efficiency; and
Provide advice and assistance to businesses and voluntary organisations about business continuity management (local authorities only).

Category 2 organisations (e.g. Health and Safety Executive, transport and utility companies). These "co-operating bodies" are less likely to be involved in the heart of planning work but will be heavily involved in incidents that affect their sector. Category 2 responders have a lesser set of duties - co-operating and sharing relevant information with other Category 1 and 2 responders.