Blair pledge to handle risks better

Reports allege Tube was a possible terrorist target

The government must do more to anticipate costly and unnecessary risks like BSE, according to a new report endorsed by Tony Blair.

While there had been improvements in the way ministers prepare for threats of serious disruption to the UK, "there is still more we can and should do", he said in a forward to the document.

What it isn't about is our response to 9/11 or counter terrorism

Government source

The report, "Risk: Improving government's capability to handle risk and uncertainty" was published on Wednesday.

It comes just days after Mr Blair warned that a balance must be struck between alerting the country to potential dangers and not allowing the fear of terrorism to paralyse society.

It also comes as Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith called for Mr Blair to create an overall security chief based on that of US homeland security adviser Tom Ridge.

The report, commissioned before the 11 September terrorist attacks on America, outlines a two year plan to improve the government's capability to handle risks.

GM crops

It sets out for consultation a new set of principles that the public sector should follow when managing risks to the public.

These cover taking precautions in proportion to risk, early involvement of those potentially affected by a risk, openness and transparency, encouraging personal responsibility and choice, and basing decisions on relevant information.

I think the government has a very tricky balance here

Oliver Letwin

Compiled by the government's Strategy Unit, the document cites the Cullen Report's assessment into the Ladbroke Grove rail crash that there was a "persistent failure to carry out risk assessments by whatever method was available".

It points out that advances in science and technology have created "novel and highly uncertain risks" associated with GM crops, cloning, radiation from mobile phones and computer fraud.

'No answers'

"Government's are increasingly being asked to assess, communicate and mitigate these risks (for example, through regulation), with relatively little historical experience to draw on," the report says.

A government source said: "What it isn't about is our response to 9/11 or counter terrorism.

"It doesn't come up with any answers to specific issues like train crashes.

"We are seeking to improve the level of understanding without alarming people.

"We don't want to say, 'there are so many risks, give up'.

"But it the government communicates them properly, we can all go about every day life safely."

'Costly crises'

In the report, Mr Blair insists: "It will rarely be possible for governments to eliminate risks entirely.

"All life involves some risk, and any innovation brings risk as well as reward - so the priority must be to manage risks better.

"We need to do more to anticipate risks, so that there are fewer unnecessary and costly crises, like BSE or failed IT contracts and to ensure that risk management is an integral part of all delivery plans.

"But we also need to be sure that innovations are not blocked by red tape and risk aversion, and that there is a proper balance between the responsibilities of government and over the responsibilities of the individual."

Every government department and government agency will now have to assess what the risks are and how consider how to manage them.

The study has drawn on reports from the critical government watchdog, the National Audit Office into issues like the MMR jab, pensions mis-selling and the Food Standards Agency.

Shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin said he was "not yet convinced" that the government was taking all necessary steps to ensure "preparedness on a wider scale" to terror attacks.

"I think the government has a very tricky balance here," he said.

"I think it is right on the part of the government to try, at the same time to raise public awareness of the character of the threat we face, but not to panic people."