Recommendation MAI-131: Force Duty Officer comprehensive training course
From Manchester Arena Inquiry: Volume 2: Emergency Response, published 3 November 2022.
Recommendation
The Home Office, the College of Policing and Counter Terrorism Policing Headquarters should ensure that all police officers to be appointed to the role of Force Duty Officer or Force Incident Manager attend a comprehensive training course dedicated to Operation Plato before they take up their role. Such courses must ensure that those attending understand the exceptional demands that will be placed upon them in the event of an Operation Plato declaration. Any course should include training in the following: a. the need, following a declaration of Operation Plato, to carry out regular reviews of that declaration; b. the need to identify with clarity the Operation Plato zones at the scene or scenes covered by the declaration; c. the need to communicate those zones to all emergency services promptly; d. the need to keep zoning decisions under review; and e. the need to work jointly with emergency service partners in the response to an Operation Plato situation.
In brief (written by this site)
The Cabinet Office reported in February 2026 that the recommendation was completed, stating that the Force Incident Manager curriculum, accreditation processes, and supporting guidance had been finalised for centrally managed delivery by the College of Policing, with training scheduled for spring 2025 and the work strand "closed via NPCC Governance May 2024" (Cabinet Office, Feb 2026). The department had provided the same progress update in November 2025, when the UK Government also recorded the recommendation as accepted in full (Cabinet Office response, Nov 2025; Cabinet Office, 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)
Force Incident Manager (FIM) Accredited Training - The FIM curriculum has been finalised along with accreditation processes and supporting guidance. A training team is being created, as delivery of the course will be centrally managed by the College. This training is set to go live in Spring 2025 for all new FIMs and to include existing FIMs where appropriate. This work strand has been closed via NPCC Governance May 2024.
Earlier statement on delivery (1)
Cabinet Office (14 November 2025)
Force Incident Manager (FIM) Accredited Training - The FIM curriculum has been finalised along with accreditation processes and supporting guidance. A training team is being created, as delivery of the course will be centrally managed by the College. This training is set to go live in Spring 2025 for all new FIMs and to include existing FIMs where appropriate. This work strand has been closed via NPCC Governance May 2024.
From: Manchester Arena Inquiry Recommendations Dashboard, original version (data file)
Source
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- UK Government
Response - Cabinet Office
Delivery statement