HIDD-61 Response Historic AI-assessed

Improve inter-service communication for major incident declarations via dedicated lines

Recommendation

The Emergency Services shall improve communication between them to ensure, in particular, that the declaration of a Major Incident by any service is immediately passed by a dedicated phone line to all other services and acted on by them . Systems shall be checked daily and logged.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
No specific published evidence directly linked to the 'Hidden Inquiry' has been identified detailing improvements in emergency services communication, the establishment of dedicated phone lines for major incident declarations, or daily system checks. While inter-agency communication has evolved significantly since the likely date of this inquiry, no specific action traceable to this recommendation is provided.
How was this assessed?
Assessed by gemini-2.5-flash on 18 Mar 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
External sources searched: www.gov.uk, www.legislation.gov.uk, hansard.parliament.uk
This recommendation requires implementation across many organisations. The assessment reflects central policy response, not adoption in individual organisations.
Jurisdiction
UK-wide
Response
Historic

No government response recorded.

Source
Report Hidden Inquiry — Final Report 27 Sep 1989
Recommendation age 36.5 yrs
Last formal update No formal updates