Sub-committees and working groups

There is no legislative requirement for sub-committees at any level of planning. Sub-committees and working groups are governance arrangement for completing work on behalf of the relevant committee.

The membership of sub-committees and working groups is not limited to existing committee members. For example, REMPC or MEMPC. Membership can be extended to agencies or individuals who hold:

• appropriate expertise
• knowledge
• capacity, or
• experience to fulfil the objectives of the group.

This may include relevant experts, industry members or additional staff from within members agencies.  

Sub-committees may be established where there is a need to maintain a continuous or longer-term body of work. They may be formed for hazard specific purposes, such as fire planning, or for capability focused reasons, acting as a joint exercising sub-committee. 

Working groups may be established with an express time-limited purpose. A working group is dis-established when it has completed the specified work. For example, a working group may be established to review an emergency management plan. Once the review is completed, the working group would disband.  

Regional Emergency Management Planning Committee

An example of a Regional Emergency Management Planning Committee (REMPC), its sub-committees and working groups is demonstrated within Figure 5. 

Figure 5: Example of sub-committees and working groups being formed in support of a REMPC.

Sub-committees or working groups are encouraged to provide regular updates to their REMPC via the written report to the REMPC template.