Force Duty Officer comprehensive training course
Manchester Arena Inquiry · Manchester Arena Inquiry: Volume 2: Emergency Response · Issued 3 November 2022 · Addressed to: College of Policing, Home Office, Counter Terrorism Policing
Government responseUK Government: Accepted (Nov 2025)
DeliveryCabinet Office says completed (Feb 2026)
Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry 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.
Manchester Arena Inquiry, Manchester Arena Inquiry: Volume 2: Emergency Response · 3 Nov 2022 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
AI-generated evidence summary
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.
Government response
●UK Government · Accepted · 14 Nov 2025
Accepted in full
Response document: Manchester Arena Inquiry recommendations (GOV.UK page linking to the Manchester Arena Inquiry Recommendations Dashboard)
Delivery
●Cabinet Office says completed · 27 Feb 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 statements on delivery (0)
●Cabinet Office · 14 Nov 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)
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The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.