Contingency planning: Glossary
A considerable amount of jargon is used in Contingency Planning and you may come across some of the following terms and therefore, find this glossary useful. Not all the terms are used on our pages, but they may be used on other websites to which we've included links.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
24/7
24 hour operations 7 days a week – i.e. continuous manning
B
Battle Rhythm
Order of business, sequence of meetings/briefings adopted in crisis
BCP
Business Continuity Planning - dealing with internal crises
Bird-Table
Military inspired style of briefing sessions
Bronze
Local operational command - usually at site of incident
Business Continuity Plan
A collection of procedures and information that is developed, compiled and maintained in readiness for use in the event of an incident
Business Continuity Planning
An embedded business process to provide the means for continuous operation of the Critical Business Activities under all circumstances, encompassing the management of risks and the development, testing and maintenance of comprehensive and current Business Continuity Plans
C
Capabilities
Cabinet Office programme to improve Resilience
CB
Contingencies Branch
CBRN
Chemical Biological Radiological & Nuclear
CC Act
Civil Contingencies Act 2004
CCC
Civil Contingencies Committee (Ministers)
CCC(O)
Civil Contingencies Committee (Officials)
CCS
Cabinet Office Civil Contingencies Secretariat
CMX - CME
NATO - European Civil/Military exercise designations
CNI
Critical National Infrastructure
COBR
Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms
COMAH
Control of Major Accident Hazards - regulations in support of SEVESO Directive
CONOPS
Central Government Concept of Operations
CONTEST
Cabinet Office counter-terrorism programme
CP
Contingency Planning - Combination of Emergency Planning, Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery
CPB
Contingency Planning Board
CPSD
Contingency Planning & Security Division
CPX
Command Post Exercise
D
DA
Devolved Administration
Disaster Recovery
The process of recovering technical systems and services and infrastructure to an operational state either at an interim minimal survival level and/or re-establishing full-scale operations
E
Emergency Planning
Emergency Planning is the process of identifying risks that could disrupt external businesses and functions that Defra has an interest in (see the Emergency Planning Guide on the CPSD website). This is separate from the internal Business Continuity process for Defra business areas covered in this Manual.
EOC
Emergency Operations Centre
EP
Emergency Planning - dealing with external crises
EPC
Emergency Planning College
EPST
Emergency Planning & Systems Team
F
FTX
Field Training Exercise
G
GCN
Government Communications Network
GLT
Government Liaison Team
GNN
Government News Network
Gold
Local strategic command level usually managed by the police
GORs
Government Offices for the Regions
I
IEM
Integrated Emergency Management
IMRG
Impact Management Recovery Group
Incident
Any accidental, natural or malicious event that threatens or disrupts normal operations, or services, for sufficient time to affect significantly, or to cause failure of, the organisation
L
Level 1
Significant Emergency (CONOPS)
Level 2
Serious Emergency (CONOPS)
Level 3
Catastrophic Emergency (CONOPS)
LGD
Lead Government Department
LRF
Local Resilience Forums
M
MACA
Military Aid to Civil Authorities
MACC
Military Aid to Civil Communities - to LAs as in flooding
MACP
Military Aid to Civil Power - SF/EOD assistance to police
MAGD
Military Aid to Government Departments - as for ODPM in Firemen's dispute
MEF
Media Emergency Forums
N
NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
NCC
News Co-ordination Centre
NDPB
Non-Departmental Public Body eg Environment Agency
O
OD Sec
Cabinet Office Overseas & Defence Secretariat
P
Plan Owner
The manager responsible for ensuring that their Business Continuity Plan/Emergency Plan is developed and kept up-to-date in line with the agreed methodology
R
R-A-G
Red - Amber - Green traffic light indicators of status of plans/work
RCCC
Regional Civil Contingencies Committee
RCF
Resilience Capability Framework
REMF
Regional Emergency Media Forum
RIMNET
Radiation Incident Monitoring Network
RNC
Regional Nominated Co-ordinator
RRF
Regional Resilience Forum
RRT
Regional Resilience Teams
RWG
Recovery Working Group -Recovery Management Group (in London)
S
SCG
Strategic Coordinating Group
SEMD
Water Act Security & Emergency Measures Direction 1998
SF
Special Forces - ie SAS/SBS counter terrorism
Silver
Local Tactical command level
Sitreps
Situation Reports
Staff Contact List
A call-cascade maintained by each Division for each location to ensure that staff can be contacted in the event of an incident.
T
TAG
Tactical Assessment Group
Triple Lock
Control conditions for the use of Emergency Power Regulations CC Act 2004
TTX
Table-Top Exercise
U-Z
(No entries at this stage)
Page last modified: 13 February 2008
Page published: 13 February 2008