Decision Making and Funding Process Guidance

27 September 2012

Today the Premiam group of partners are publishing further draft documents aimed at bringing improved clarity regarding the decision making, funding and co-ordination issues involved in the set-up and management of a post spill monitoring and impact assessment programme. 

The first of this series, for England (PDF, 563 KB), was made available earlier in the year and now we are pleased to add versions relevant for practices in Scotland (PDF, 498 KB) and Northern Ireland (PDF, 537 KB). These short documents have been developed in meetings/workshops with the relevant Premiam partner organisations and introduce a number of key principles that will help to ensure that monitoring activities are fully co-ordinated and through which the results can be clearly communicated. It also describes the PMCC (Premiam Monitoring Coordination Cell) to facilitate the necessary conduct and integration of a range of monitoring activities and organisations - which can be very complex during large incidents.

The PMCC will have a number of key duties, which could include:

  • The initiation and development of a co-ordinated monitoring programme in line with the Premiam post-spill monitoring guidelines.
  • The formation and management of a 'monitoring team' (selected from the Premiam network of service providers) to undertake the monitoring activities.
  • The maintenance of strong communication links to any formed environment group (EG) and other response cells as necessary.
  • The management and maintenance of financial and expenditure records pertaining to any initial monitoring activities (including liaison with and payment of any sub-contractors used).
  • Overseeing the generation and publication of reports as necessary. These will include i) regular/routine updates for Premiam partner organisations and the EG, and ii) interim and final monitoring and impact assessment reports.

The concept of the PMCC ands the wider application of the Premiam principles will be included as part of the update of the National Contingency Plan which is currently underway.