Suffolk Resilience Forum gives evidence to the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy

Becky Heginbotham-Blount, Chief Resilience Officer of the Suffolk Resilience Forum, has given evidence to the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, sharing the Local Resilience Forum view on how the country can better prepare for disruption.

The session covered a wide range of local and national resilience issues. These included the Be Ready campaign and public preparedness, the importance of strengthening community resilience, and the challenge of securing sustainable funding for resilience work. The committee also heard about the benefits of aligning LRF boundaries more closely with those of key partner organisations. These issues matter because effective resilience depends on organisations being able to plan, prepare and respond together. It also depends on helping individuals and communities understand the part they can play when disruption occurs.

Becky attended as Chief Resilience Officer for the SRF and as co-chair of the National Consortium of Societal Resilience. She is also the national lead for community resilience and humanitarian assistance within the LRF chair network.

Speaking after the session, she said: “It was a real honour to be invited to contribute to this discussion and to represent the perspective of Local Resilience Forums. Societal resilience is about much more than responding effectively when an emergency happens. It is about how we work collectively to prepare for disruption, strengthen our communities and partnerships, and ensure people have the information and confidence they need to be better prepared.

“The discussion provided an important opportunity to share some of the practical opportunities and challenges experienced by LRFs, from community preparedness and funding through to ensuring our structures enable partners to work together as effectively as possible.

“For Suffolk, it is also an opportunity to bring learning from national conversations back into the partnership and ensure our local work continues to contribute to the wider development of resilience across the country.”