One of the dilemmas for all governments is to decide how much the public needs to know about the potential threats facing this country.

The Prime Minister and senior Cabinet ministers are deluged with secret intelligence that spells out in stark detail how this or that terrorist organisation is plotting to launch attacks in the United Kingdom.

So should the public be told, or would it cause unnecessary alarm and panic? There is a limit to the amount of bad news that most people can take into their daily lives, but it is still the responsibility of the Government to be as informative as possible about the threats and risks that we face.

The national risk register, to be published today, is the first attempt to put into some order the type of threats that this country faces or could face in the future. While none of the headings will be a surprise, it will give the public an insight into how the Government is planning to cope with the challenges and, in general terms, how it perceives each potential danger will affect the public.

The focus on pandemic flu might seem unexpected when the Government, MI5 and the police have given so many warnings in recent years about the threat from Islamist terrorism. There can be few people who do not know that MI5 is now watching 2,000 individuals, all suspected of being involved in some form of terrorist activity.

In reality, a small-scale terrorist attack killing 40-50 people in the United Kingdom is not a strategic threat. A successful chemical, biological or radiological attack in London would have a far greater impact. For example, it could force companies to decamp from the City, creating an impact on the economy in general.

In the same way, an outbreak of pandemic flu affecting more than a million people and causing hundreds of thousands of deaths could have disastrous economic and law-and-order consequences. The military would be hit hard and might not be able to fulfil its basic responsibilities, the police would struggle to prevent order from breaking down, schools would be closed, transport networks would grind to a halt and businesses would suffer.

So the public need to know the potential consequences of such disasters befalling the nation. More importantly, they need to be confident that the Government and local authorities will be able to cope.

Times Recommends

• New York threatens London's place in fashion
• Computer game to rewrite evolution
• Teacher shows how to live on £1 a day