High fidelity training for emergency responders
Manchester Arena Inquiry · Manchester Arena Inquiry: Volume 2: Emergency Response · Issued 3 November 2022 · Addressed to: College of Policing, Fire Service College, National Ambulance Resilience Unit, Home Office, Counter Terrorism Policing
Government responseUK Government: Accepted (Nov 2025)
DeliveryCabinet Office says in progress (Feb 2026)
Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
The Home Office, Counter Terrorism Policing Headquarters, the College of Policing, the Fire Service College and the National Ambulance Resilience Unit should consider introducing the use of regular 'high-fidelity training' to give emergency responders better experience of the stress, pressure and pace of a no-notice attack.
Manchester Arena Inquiry, Manchester Arena Inquiry: Volume 2: Emergency Response · 3 Nov 2022 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
AI-generated evidence summary
The Inquiry recommended introducing regular high-fidelity training for emergency responders facing no-notice attacks. In February 2026, the Cabinet Office stated that the proposal is considered as part of developing a healthcare standard for events and will be included in scoping and writing stages where appropriate (Cabinet Office, Feb 2026). In April 2026, the Southport Inquiry reported hearing that the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS), in common with other ambulance services, does not currently have the funding capacity to allow all frontline staff to participate in regular major incident exercises (Sir Adrian Fulford, Apr 2026).
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 5 Oct 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 in progress · 27 Feb 2026
This is considered as part of R132-R139 on developing a healthcare standard for events and will be included in scoping and writing stages, where appropriate.
Earlier statements on delivery (0)
●Cabinet Office · 14 Nov 2025
This is considered as part of R132-R139 on developing a healthcare standard for events and will be included in scoping and writing stages, where appropriate.
From: Manchester Arena Inquiry Recommendations Dashboard, original version (data file)
What other bodies have found
●Southport Inquiry · 13 Apr 2026
Additionally, the Inquiry heard that NWAS, in common with other ambulance services, does not currently have the funding capacity to allow all frontline staff to participate in regular major incident exercises, despite the clear value of such training and ongoing work in this area.
From: The Southport Inquiry: Phase 1 report, volume 1 (accessible), Sir Adrian Fulford, Chair, Southport Public Inquiry
How this page is built
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.