Recommendation MAI-152: Recording equipment for incident commanders
From Manchester Arena Inquiry: Volume 2: Emergency Response, published 3 November 2022.
Recommendation
The Home Office, the College of Policing, the National Ambulance Resilience Unit and the Fire Service College should ensure that all those who may be required to take up a command position in the event of a Major Incident are issued with a means to record what they say, hear and see unless there are good reasons why they should not be so equipped.
In brief (written by this site)
The Inquiry asked emergency services to issue incident commanders with recording equipment. In February 2026, the Cabinet Office reported that processes had been strengthened to capture and share learning from events, with new national events guidance currently being developed to address partnership planning, engagement with Safety Advisory Groups (SAGs), and sharing emergency plans across tri-service and wider partners, though recording equipment was not mentioned (Cabinet Office, Feb 2026). Earlier, 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)
Processes have been strengthened in relation to the capturing and sharing learning from events and related planning. This work strand builds upon these improvements, with new national Events guidance currently being developed. This will include the approach to partnership planning and engagement with Safety Advisory Group's (SAG), alongside sharing of emergency plans across the tri-service and wider partners.
Earlier statement on delivery (1)
Cabinet Office (14 November 2025)
Processes have been strengthened in relation to the capturing and sharing learning from events and related planning. This work strand builds upon these improvements, with new national Events guidance currently being developed. This will include the approach to partnership planning and engagement with Safety Advisory Group's (SAG), alongside sharing of emergency plans across the tri-service and wider partners.
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