Multi-Agency Exercises

Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request ref: 01/FOI/25/008283/Y

Version Date: 22/07/2025

The Contingencies, Operations & Events Department has provided the following information.

By ‘conducted’, we have taken this to mean ‘taken part in’, this does not necessarily mean Devon & Cornwall Police were the lead agency. These figures cover the exercises tracked by the Local Resilience Forum that will cover those exercises held in relation to the Civil Contingencies Act.

Please note also that the archive information only goes as far back as 1st January 2023 so the information from 2022 is not included.

1. How many multi-agency exercises have been conducted by your organisation within the last 3 years (1st May 2022 to 30th April 2025 inclusive).
25

2. What proportion of these multi-agency exercises were:
i. Tabletop / Scenario Based
ii. Live Exercises
iii. Other (please state).
i. 48%
ii. 36%
iii. Training – 12%
Seminar – 4%

3. Please detail how post-exercise findings are fed back into the organisation and how any changes to policies and procedures are implemented as a result of this feedback.
It is usual for a debrief to be held following any exercise. This may lead to minor actions, such as changing an entry to the plan, or more detailed changes which are referred to as recommendations. These recommendations are then submitted to the Local Resilience Forum and tracked via the Continuous Learning Group – made up of representatives from a wide range of organisations involved in resilience. Recommendations for individual agencies may then be tracked internally via that agency’s own processes.

4. What proportion of multi-agency exercises in the last 3 years:
i. Involved more than two CCA 2004 category one responder organisations (please detail)
No information held, attendance records are not kept.
ii. Involved CCA 2004 category two responders (please detail)
No information held, attendance records are not kept.
iii. Involved organisations from the voluntary and faith based sectors (please detail).
No information held, attendance records are not kept.

5. Please detail how the aims and objectives of the exercise are determined and communicated to the parties involved.
Each agency involved in the exercise is responsible for setting their own aims and objectives for each exercise, which can vary depending on the method and subject of the exercise. A multi-agency exercise planning group may be established, where there may be joint objectives if the exercise subject is testing a legislative or multi-agency response element, which covers an area that not one single agency is responsible for.