| Description | Covering letter from Ian Walford, Head of Fire & Civil Contingencies Division, to stakeholders outlining the RTN and enclosing a copy of the consultant's report |
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| ISBN | (Web Only) |
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| Official Print Publication Date | |
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| Website Publication Date | March 05, 2007 |
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Justice Department Fire & Civil Contingencies Division TO : Please see Annex A | St Andrew's House Regent Road Edinburgh EH1 3DG Telephone: 0131-244 3992 Fax: 0131-244 2819 Ian.walford@scotland.gsi.gov.uk http://www.scotland.gov.uk Our ref: 5 March 2007 |
Dear Colleague
Emergency communications resilience and interoperability have been high on the agenda for the last few years as a result of a variety of incidents in the UK and abroad. The Scottish Emergencies Co-ordinating Committee (SECC) decided last year that the emergency communication arrangements should be reviewed. Following an open tendering exercise the Executive commissioned Howard Martin Consultancy Ltd to make recommendations to improve resilience. Today we publish the report into the review of emergency communications in Scotland www.scotland.gov.uk/publications/2007/03/RTNStrategy (electronic copy attached) and its recommendations which have been accepted by SECC (Annex B).
The guiding principles of the Resilient Telecommunications Network (RTN) strategy came from the stakeholder seminars held in May 2006 in Perth and Inverness. Participants identified amongst other points that any future emergency communications should have fixed and mobile capability, carry voice and data, and be interoperable and routinely used. The strategy recommended by the consultants is based on multiple communications channels (including satellite and microwave) which would enable voice and data communications between strategic centres to be maintained during a process of gradual degradation of capability. Thus if landlines were to fail, microwave links would be able to support all functionality and provide adequate capacity; if microwaves also failed communications capacity would inevitably be restricted but vital links could be maintained by satellite.
A limited and updated Emergency Communications Network (ECN) will be part of the mix. It is our intention to start slimming down the limited ECN from the beginning of the 2007-08 financial year. This will mean switching off ECN links that are not planned to be part of the RTN. Nevertheless it will be open to stakeholders who wish to maintain their ECN connections to do so, but this would be at their own expense.
The RTN is expected to cost in the region of £3.3m across Scotland. Subject to resources being allocated for this purpose in the forthcoming Spending Review implementation and roll out will begin around April 2008. From now onwards we shall be developing in conjunction with stakeholders a detailed procurement and project management plan.
SECC have also agreed that in the interim, until the full RTN is implemented, Airwave radio units will be purchased for each local authority and health board and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency along with fixed satellite phone links for each local authority's emergency room. These communication solutions will provide ease of communication amongst all Category One responders in Scotland. Funds for these purchases will be released in 2007-08 by slimming down the ECN.
Airwave is set up in such a way that each unit can speak to other units either using the radio function or a call can be made similar to that to a mobile phone. The fixed satellite link (i.e. the satellite antenna is fixed to the roof of a building) will provide a telephone that can be used to phone any landline, mobile, Airwave unit or satellite phone. This satellite link will be independent of the public telephone system in the UK and will allow calls to be made from inside a building. My only caveat in relation to Airwave is that the relevant licences can only be applied for in September and October 2007 which may cause a slight delay to the acquisition of Airwave units.
An indicative timescale for the implementation of the RTN is set out below. However I must stress that this is subject to securing funding in the Spending Review 07 and also on the assumption that we would know the outcome of whether any bid was successful by October 2007 (the provisional timetable for the Spending Review may alter following the Scottish Parliamentary elections on 3rd May).
April 2007 | -Seminars with stakeholders to explain the proposals in more detail (see below) |
April - September 2007 | -Developing a funding, project management and procurement plan for the RTN -Test/procure/install/commission fixed satellite links for local authorities |
October 2007 | -Subject to resources being available, begin to implement the RTN implementation/procurement plan -Submit Airwave licence applications for local authorities, health boards and SEPA. |
November 2007 - March 2008 | -Commission Airwave units. |
April 2008 - March 2009 | -Test/procure/install/commission equipment to create/implement the RTN |
April 2009 | -RTN fully operational |
The three stakeholder seminars planned for April 2007 - expected to be held in Perth, Glasgow and Inverness - will provide an opportunity for emergency planning officers from the various responder organisations to attend a presentation on the RTN and what it means for them. In addition we would be happy to attend other meetings - for example, the tactical working group in each strategic co-ordinating area - to discuss the RTN.
As you can see this is an ambitious project which will greatly improve Scotland's communications resilience. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you in advance for your assistance in implementing the RTN. If you wish to discuss any aspect of the RTN, including having a presentation, then please do not hesitate to contact either me or Craig Alexander (e-mailcraig.alexander@scotland.gsi.gov.uktel 0131 244 1815) who has been involved in developing the proposals.
Yours sincerely
IAN WALFORD