Operation Sassoon provides a basic generic framework for an emergency evacuation plan of any part of London, or Heathrow, in the case of a major terrorist attack in the British capital. It is part of an extensive anti-terror plan installed by the British Government in response to the rising threat of terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom. The plan, first drawn up in 2003, oversees the partial or complete evacuation of the inner parts of London after either a large-scale assault affecting a larger area of the city or an event having a lasting effect over a longer period of time, such as a biological, chemical or nuclear attack. Besides the actual evacuation process, Operation Sassoon covers the principles of large-scale evacuation, the installation of temporary shelters for evacuees in assigned areas outside the city, activation of the plan and the roles and responsibilities of agencies under the plan, as well as the deployment of police and military forces for maintaining civil order after a major attack has occurred. History According to newspaper reports, the plans were drawn up upon the instructions of John Prescott MP, the Deputy Prime Minister, and senior officers at the Metropolitan Police. The draft plans were submitted to the London Resilience Forum, which at the time was chaired by Nick Raynsford MP with Ken Livingstone as his deputy. A plan was developed by a multi agency team made up of local authority, transport and police representatives led by a senior MPS officer working closely with colleagues in the South East and East of England Regions. The first version of the framework document was published on 31 December 2003 and the current version was last revised in April 2005. On 25 October 2004, Paul Goodman, Conservative MP for Wycombe, tabled a Parliamentary question in the House of Commons which was answered by Nick Raynsford MP, the then Minister of State for Local and Regional Government, on plans to use High Wycombe as a care shelter as part of Operation Sassoon. The answer given by the Minister is on record at Hansard. Operation Sassoon has specific importance as the South East has the highest number of potential targets for disruptive action in England. These include: five major airports and the most congested airspace the largest number of nuclear establishments 11 maritime ports, four container ports and the most congested sea-lanes around 700 miles of coastline the most