Recommendation MAI-135: Action cards for emergency services in Major Incidents
From Manchester Arena Inquiry: Volume 2: Emergency Response, published 3 November 2022.
Recommendation
The Home Office, His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, the College of Policing, the Fire Service College and the National Ambulance Resilience Unit should oversee the development and implementation of action cards for the police, fire and rescue service, and ambulance service for use in a Major Incident. This should include the following: a. ensuring that all control room staff and commanders are trained in the use of the action cards; b. ensuring that action cards act as a checklist, setting out the key functions of each command role, the role of control room staff and the need for joint working; c. ensuring that action cards are available immediately to commanders and control room staff during the course of the response to a Major Incident, whether in hard copy or electronically; d. ensuring that the use of action cards is tested regularly through exercising; and e. ensuring that the action cards within the control rooms include a prompt to the first commander on scene to co-locate with other emergency service commanders.
In brief (written by this site)
The Inquiry recommended developing and implementing emergency service action cards for major incidents. In February 2026, the Cabinet Office reported that action cards for a Marauding Terrorist Attack (MTA) response had been given to all forces and services under a review of Joint Operating Principles (JOPS) (Cabinet Office, Feb 2026). It stated that these cards are held in control rooms nationwide as checklists, while testing and assurance remain ongoing under the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP) Programme (Cabinet Office, Feb 2026). Action cards for other major incidents were not mentioned (Cabinet Office, Feb 2026). The UK Government 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, 5 Oct 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
Government response
Accepted in full
Delivery
Cabinet Office says in progress (27 February 2026)
As part of the review of the Marauding Terrorist Attack (MTA) Joint Operating Principles (JOPS) action cards were given to all forces and services for the implementation of an MTA response. These cards are contained within control rooms around the country and serve as a checklist for actions in a high stress, high dynamic incident such as an MTA. Testing of these plans continue as part of the JESIP Programme with assurance a key part of ensuring these continue to be fit for purpose.
Earlier statement on delivery (1)
Cabinet Office (14 November 2025)
As part of the review of the Marauding Terrorist Attack (MTA) Joint Operating Principles (JOPS) action cards were given to all forces and services for the implementation of an MTA response. These cards are contained within control rooms around the country and serve as a checklist for actions in a high stress, high dynamic incident such as an MTA. Testing of these plans continue as part of the JESIP Programme with assurance a key part of ensuring these continue to be fit for purpose.
From: Manchester Arena Inquiry Recommendations Dashboard, original version (data file)
Published evidence
Published findings referenced by inspectorates, select committees, official progress reports, and other sources. Source type badge indicates whether the finding is independent or government self-reported. Each finding is this site's summary of what the source found, with a link to the source; this site does not add its own progress rating.
Summary by this site of the published finding
JESIP Joint Doctrine updated to v3.1 (April 2024) following inquiry findings on interoperability failures. Operation Plato reformed to cover all terrorist attack types, not just firearms. Emphasis extended beyond command-level to frontline responders.
Source
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- UK Government
Response - Cabinet Office
Delivery statement