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Case Studies - London Region Exercises

Exercise Osiris II (Bank Underground Station)

7 September, 2003

• Details of the Exercise
• Written Ministerial Statement to Parliament, by Alistair Darling (15 Dec 2003)
• Lessons Learned from the Exercise (15 Dec 2003)
• End of exercise statement by Nick Raynsford, Minister for Civil Resilience
• Statements by Home Secretary David Blunkett and Secretary of State for Transport Alistair Darling
• Statement by the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone

Statements by the Home Secretary and the Secretary of State for Transport

Training exercises are an important part of counter-terrorism, as they ensure that we are prepared to respond to any kind of terrorist attack and that our counter-terrorism arrangements are tested.

Government, the emergency services and others regularly train and practise their responses to all kinds of major incident, including natural disasters and accidents.

The exercise being ran at Bank Tube Station on Sunday, 7 September forms a routine part of the work by the emergency services and the health service to enhance resilience by allowing them to practice their response to a CBRN attack on the London Underground in a realistic environment.

Home Secretary David Blunkett said:

"The Government is committed to being honest about the threats we face and to putting as much information in the public domain as we can. Having a regular programme of exercises is essential to our counter-terrorism work. They allow us to test our systems, train those on the frontline and highlight areas which need more work."

"In the past such exercises were usually conducted in private. As I announced in July, we are now embarking on a broader programme of exercises, some of them involving public spaces. I believe the British people will be reassured, rather than unnecessarily alarmed that we are undertaking this work. Our exercise programme leads the way in counter-terrorist planning and is one of the best in the world; hijacks, chemical and biological attacks and nuclear devices have featured in recent scenarios."

Secretary of State for Transport Alistair Darling said:

"We are living in difficult and unpredictable times and it is essential the Government takes every reasonable step to deter terrorist activities in the UK and to test our response. Sunday's exercise is a sensible and practical step in the fight against terrorism and allows us to test contingency plans."

"This is one of a number of exercises designed to improve the response of the emergency services. Its comparatively small scale, but an essential part of our work. Exercises like this will ensure that emergency procedures are in place and are being fully and regularly tested."

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