Recording equipment for incident commanders
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
Government responseUK Government: Accepted (Nov 2025)
DeliveryCabinet Office says in progress (Feb 2026)
Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry 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.
Manchester Arena Inquiry, Manchester Arena Inquiry: Volume 2: Emergency Response · 3 Nov 2022 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
AI-generated evidence summary
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.
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
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 statements on delivery (0)
●Cabinet Office · 14 Nov 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
●JESIP · 1 Apr 2024
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.
JESIP Joint Doctrine Version 3.1, April 2024View source →
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.