Scottish Government Resilience Room
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The Scottish Government Resilience Room (SGoRR) is the emergency and crisis response co–ordination facility of the
Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...
, activated in cases of national emergency or crisis, or during events abroad with major implications for Scotland. It is located in
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
, Scotland's capital city, at St Andrew's House, the official headquarters of the Scottish Government. Prior to February 2008, it was called the Scottish Government Emergency Room, or "SEER", from the former name "Scottish Executive Emergency Room". When the extent or complexity of an emergency requires a greater degree of central government co-ordination, the Scottish Government will formally launch and activate its emergency response arrangements through the Scottish Government Resilience Room. The precise role of the facility will alter depending on the precise nature and matter of the emergency.


Operations and purpose

The main location for the operations centre in located within the Scottish Government headquarters in St. Andrew's House in Edinburgh, with contingency arrangements in place to use other Scottish Government locations at Saughton House, Edinburgh and Atlantic Quay 5,
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
. The operations of the Scottish Government Resilience Room is in part organised and run by Ready Scotland, an agency of the Scottish Government (Safer Scotland division). A meeting in SEER was held on the 1 July 2007 due to the terrorist attack on Glasgow Airport. Since then, meetings have been held in the resilience room in response to significant events such as the 2009 swine flu pandemic and the
Covid-19 pandemic in Scotland The COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland is part of the COVID-19 pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease-2019, caused by the virus Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2. The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Scotland on 1 M ...
. When activated by the Scottish Government, the Scottish Government Resilience Room facility will acts as a means of ensuring that strategic direction and response to emergencies and acts of crisis in Scotland is provided and the co–ordination of support from Scottish Government agencies in activated. It will ensure that the Scottish ministers are kept updated regarding the situation by collating and maintaining a strategic overview of the emergency response, particularly focused on response and recovery issues. The Resilience Room has facilities available to allow for Scottish Government ministers to the briefed as and when necessary on any issue. This may include the collaboration between the Scottish and UK Governments, as well as collaboration and liaison between the Scottish Government and
local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...
. The room supports the response and recovery efforts including the allocation of "scarce Scottish resources" and circulate national advice and information for the public, through means such as media channels. Ultimately, when in activation, the Scottish Government Resilience Room will determine the Scottish Government's strategy for public communication and will begin to co-ordinate public messages nationally, in consultation with the Resilience Partnerships and other key stakeholders who may be involved in the emergency response.


Notable times of operation

The Scottish Government Resilience Room has been activated on several occasions to either coordinate the Scottish Government's response or preparation ahead of or following significant national events, crisis or terrorism attacks. Notable instances where the resilience room has been activated included: * 2007 Glasgow Airport attack *
Covid-19 pandemic in Scotland The COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland is part of the COVID-19 pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease-2019, caused by the virus Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2. The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Scotland on 1 M ...
* Storm Éowyn * December 2024 high winds and heavy rainfall *
2024 CrowdStrike-related IT outages On 19 July 2024, the American cybersecurity company CrowdStrike distributed a faulty update to its Falcon Sensor security software that caused widespread problems with Microsoft Windows computers running the software. As a result, roughly 8.5&nb ...
* 2025 Wildfires across Scotland


Membership

The Scottish Government Resilience Room is run by a sub-committee of the Cabinet. There is no official membership of SGoRR, however, those who regularly attend are as follows:


Head of government

*''
First Minister of Scotland The first minister of Scotland () is the head of government of Scotland. The first minister leads the Scottish Government, the Executive (government), executive branch of the devolved government and is th ...
'' – (
John Swinney John Ramsay Swinney (born 13 April 1964) is a Scottish politician who has served as First Minister of Scotland, first minister of Scotland since 2024. Swinney has served as Leader of the Scottish National Party, leader of the Scottish National ...
; May 2024–present) *'' Deputy First Minister of Scotland'' – ( Kate Forbes; May 2024–present)


Cabinet secretaries

* Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs * Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy * Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care * Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands


Law officers

* Lord Advocate of Scotland
(
Dorothy Bain Dorothy Ruth Bain is a Scottish Faculty of Advocates, advocate who has served as Lord Advocate since 2021. She is the second woman to hold the office after Elish Angiolini, Lady Elish Angiolini KC. Bain previously served as the Crown Office and ...
; June 2021–present)


Meetings

The meeting room has accommodation to sit up to 40 attendees, however, during the
Covid-19 pandemic in Scotland The COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland is part of the COVID-19 pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease-2019, caused by the virus Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2. The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Scotland on 1 M ...
, this was reduced to 17 in order to abide by Scottish Government laws and restrictions. A Freedom of Information (FOI) request confirmed that prior to the outbreak of Covid-19 in Scotland, the SCoRR was activated three times in order to prepare Scotland for the outbreak, with two of those being chaired by the
First Minister A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...
. A representative from
Police Scotland Police Scotland (), officially the Police Service of Scotland (), is the national police force of Scotland. It was formed in 2013, through the merging of eight regional police forces in Scotland, as well as the specialist services of the Scottis ...
also attended those SCoRR meetings. During Covid-19 related SCoRR meetings, officials such as the Chief Medical Officer of Scotland and the National Clinical Director of the Scottish Government, also attended. Other meetings of the SGoRR, such as meetings relating to Winter Preparedness, Concurrent Risk in
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
and the RMT Rail Strike, have been chaired by the Director of Performance, Delivery and Resilience. During a meeting of the SGoRR regarding readiness for Winter on 2 November 2022, attendees included the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport,
Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice (), commonly referred to as the Social Justice Secretary, is a position in the Scottish Government cabinet (government), Cabinet. The Cabinet Secretary has overall responsibility for community planning, w ...
and the Minister for Children and Young People. Others from agencies such as the
Met Office The Met Office, until November 2000 officially the Meteorological Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather and climate service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and ...
and
Transport Scotland Transport Scotland () is the national transport agency of Scotland. It was established by the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005, and began operating on 1 January 2006 as an executive agency of the Scottish Government. Transport Scotland, an execut ...
were also involved.


References


External links


Official website
of Safer Scotland {{Use British English, date=January 2025 Emergency management in the United Kingdom Scottish Government