A nuclear emergency would require co-ordinated action from many different public authorities. Each of these authorities is required to have a suitable emergency plan in place.
To ensure these plans are well co-ordinated, all the key organisations are represented on the Nuclear Emergency Planning Liaison Group (NEPLG), and this Group monitors and improves emergency planning procedures and organisation across the UK.
The Secretary of State of Energy and Climate Change as the minister accountable for safety at civil nuclear sites, has overall responsibility for co-ordinating nuclear emergency plans.
More general responsibility for civil emergency planning rests with the Home Secretary (for England and Wales) and the Scottish Executive. In Northern Ireland, the Secretary of State oversees nuclear emergency planning.
In the event of a nuclear emergency or other incident, whichever Department’s ministers account to Parliament for regulating the cause of the incident become the ‘lead Department’, and co-ordinate the Government's response. In the case of an overseas emergency, DECC acts as the lead department.