Recommendation MAI-42: SMG sharing of emergency response plans
From Manchester Arena Inquiry: Volume 2: Emergency Response, published 3 November 2022.
Recommendation
SMG should review its processes to ensure that it shares with Greater Manchester Police, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, British Transport Police and North West Ambulance Service its most current emergency response plans and policies for dealing with an incident at the Arena. It should apply this approach more generally to its operations.
In brief (written by this site)
The Cabinet Office reported in February 2026 that the recommendation was completed, stating that 64 percent of responding fire and rescue services had completed related measures, including establishing operations rooms and providing flexi duty officers as single points of contact during major incidents (Cabinet Office, Feb 2026). Earlier, the UK Government had accepted the recommendation in full in November 2025 (Cabinet Office response, Nov 2025).
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
Government response
Accepted in full
Delivery
Cabinet Office says completed (27 February 2026)
There has been a 33% increase in services that have completed R-131. This takes the total completion rate to 64% across all responding services (50 FRS). Evidence includes establishing 'operations cell' or 'operations rooms' to support incidents along side control rooms, supplementing the control room with additional flexi duty officers to act as single points of contact during major incidents.
From: Manchester Arena Inquiry Recommendations Dashboard
Site note: The dashboard gives this recommendation the same progress text, word for word, as recommendation 4, which concerns fire and rescue services' control rooms. This recommendation asks SMG to share its current emergency response plans and policies with the emergency services. The dashboard marks it Completed and recommendation 4 In progress. The words are shown as the dashboard publishes them.
Source
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- UK Government
Response - Cabinet Office
Delivery statement