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Cooperation between emergency services

Theme 12

Cooperation between emergency services

Last updated: 19 September 2024

Recommendation

33.31a

That the Joint Doctrine be amended to make it clear that each emergency service must communicate the declaration of a Major Incident to all other Category 1 Responders as soon as possible.

Responsible for completion:

  • Emergency Services

Progress

Status

Complete

The members of the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP) Interoperability Board, including representatives from the previous Government, emergency services and other key stakeholders, committed to addressing, in full, these recommendations in the review of the JESIP Joint Doctrine.  These were incorporated into the JESIP Joint Doctrine published in October 2021. 

The LFB has committed to incorporating any changes to the Joint Doctrine into its own policies and training. The Brigade is already making changes to its own operational procedures to address these recommendations. Specifically, the Brigade is in the process of revising its Major Incident Policy (PN 263), which will include a specific section regarding informing other category 1 responders, the initiation of a Major Incident for Incident Commanders, reinforced METHANE messaging, and the activation of a tri-service call at the declaration of a Major Incident.

London's emergency services are also working together to address these issues at the city level. These recommendations are additionally being considered by the 'Blue Lights' panel of London Emergency Services Liaison Panel (LESLP). The Blue Lights panel is responsible for London's Major Incidents Procedures Manual which has been reviewed and revised to address these issues. It is now reported as complete with the revised manual presented to the London Resilience Forum in October 2021 and published in November 2021.

Recommendation

33.31b

That the Joint Doctrine be amended to make it clear that on the declaration of a Major Incident, clear lines of communication must be established as soon as possible between the control rooms of the individual emergency services.

Responsible for completion:

  • Emergency Services

Progress

Status

Complete

The members of the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP) Interoperability Board, including representatives from the previous Government, emergency services and other key stakeholders, committed to addressing, in full, these recommendations in the review of the JESIP Joint Doctrine.  These were incorporated into the JESIP Joint Doctrine published in October 2021. 

The LFB has committed to incorporating any changes to the Joint Doctrine into its own policies and training. The Brigade is already making changes to its own operational procedures to address these recommendations. Specifically, the Brigade is in the process of revising its Major Incident Policy (PN 263), which will include a specific section regarding informing other category 1 responders, the initiation of a Major Incident for Incident Commanders, reinforced METHANE messaging, and the activation of a tri-service call at the declaration of a Major Incident.

London's emergency services are also working together to address these issues at the city level. These recommendations are additionally being considered by the 'Blue Lights' panel of London Emergency Services Liaison Panel (LESLP). The Blue Lights panel is responsible for London's Major Incidents Procedures Manual which has been reviewed and revised to address these issues. It is now reported as complete with the revised manual presented to the London Resilience Forum in October 2021 and published in November 2021.

Recommendation

33.31c

That the Joint Doctrine be amended to make it clear that a single point of contact should be designated within each control room to facilitate such communication.

Responsible for completion:

  • Emergency Services

Progress

Status

Complete

The members of the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP) Interoperability Board, including representatives from the previous Government, emergency services and other key stakeholders, committed to addressing, in full, these recommendations in the review of the JESIP Joint Doctrine.  These were incorporated into the JESIP Joint Doctrine published in October 2021. 

The LFB has committed to incorporating any changes to the Joint Doctrine into its own policies and training. The Brigade is already making changes to its own operational procedures to address these recommendations. Specifically, the Brigade is in the process of revising its Major Incident Policy (PN 263), which will include a specific section regarding informing other category 1 responders, the initiation of a Major Incident for Incident Commanders, reinforced METHANE messaging, and the activation of a tri-service call at the declaration of a Major Incident.

London's emergency services are also working together to address these issues at the city level. These recommendations are additionally being considered by the 'Blue Lights' panel of London Emergency Services Liaison Panel (LESLP). The Blue Lights panel is responsible for London's Major Incidents Procedures Manual which has been reviewed and revised to address these issues. It is now reported as complete with the revised manual presented to the London Resilience Forum in October 2021 and published in November 2021.

Recommendation

33.31d

That the Joint Doctrine be amended to make it clear that a “METHANE” message should be sent as soon as possible by the emergency service declaring a Major Incident.

Responsible for completion:

  • Emergency Services

Progress

Status

Complete

The members of the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP) Interoperability Board, including representatives from the previous Government, emergency services and other key stakeholders, committed to addressing, in full, these recommendations in the review of the JESIP Joint Doctrine.  These were incorporated into the JESIP Joint Doctrine published in October 2021. 

The LFB has committed to incorporating any changes to the Joint Doctrine into its own policies and training. The Brigade is already making changes to its own operational procedures to address these recommendations. Specifically, the Brigade is in the process of revising its Major Incident Policy (PN 263), which will include a specific section regarding informing other category 1 responders, the initiation of a Major Incident for Incident Commanders, reinforced METHANE messaging, and the activation of a tri-service call at the declaration of a Major Incident.

London's emergency services are also working together to address these issues at the city level. These recommendations are additionally being considered by the 'Blue Lights' panel of London Emergency Services Liaison Panel (LESLP). The Blue Lights panel is responsible for London's Major Incidents Procedures Manual which has been reviewed and revised to address these issues. It is now reported as complete with the revised manual presented to the London Resilience Forum in October 2021 and published in November 2021.

Recommendation

33.32

That steps be taken to investigate the compatibility of the London Fire Brigade (LFB) systems with those of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and the London Ambulance Service (LAS) with a view to enabling all three emergency services’ systems to read each other’s messages.

Progress date:

September 2024

Responsible for completion:

  • Emergency Services

Progress

Status

Complete

There are standing arrangements in London to use a pre-planned Airwave talk-group as an immediate means to share information across London’s emergency services for serious events. 

Whilst the national implementation of the Multi Agency Incident Transfer (MAIT) system is being trialled by other FRSs, LFB are MAIT-enabled and have now closed off this recommendation as complete. Furthermore, LFB continues to work with the NFCC who are leading on the introduction of MAIT system. This system will allow information to be transferred much more quickly between control rooms of emergency services. This is because the system will allow for the transfer of information between control rooms to be electronic instead of a control room operator having to manually contact the other service by telephone.

The LFB’s Vision mobilising system is already MAIT-compliant. They have fully investigated the compatibility of their systems with those of MPS and LAS. They have also committed to continuing work with these partners to deliver full capability. 

Recommendation

33.33

That steps be taken to ensure that the airborne datalink system on every National Police Air Service helicopter observing an incident which involves one of the other emergency services defaults to the National Emergency Service user encryption.

Responsible for completion:

  • National Police Air Service

Progress

Status

Complete

The National Police Air Service (NPAS) mandated all operational crews complete refresher training in the use of Airborne data link equipment, writing to all 43 Home Office police forces (across England and Wales). Software upgrades to enable the Airborne data link system to automatically default to the National Emergency Services user encryption have now been completed for all operational NPAS aircraft. 

Recommendation

33.34

That the London Fire Brigade, the Metropolitan Police Service, the London Ambulance Service and the London local authorities all investigate ways of improving the collection of information about survivors and making it available more rapidly to those wishing to make contact with them

Responsible for completion:

  • London Emergency Services

Progress

Status

Complete

This recommendation is about improving the way information about the survivors of an incident is collected and shared by London’s emergency services and local authorities. Procedures for improving the way information about the survivors of an incident is collected and shared by London’s emergency services and local authorities are already set out in London's Major Incidents Procedures Manual, which is produced by the 'Blue Lights' panel of London Emergency Services Liaison Panel (LESLP). The Blue Lights panel has worked with the Humanitarian Assistance Working Group to address this recommendation and it is now reported as complete with the revised manual presented to the London Resilience Forum in October 2021 and published in November 2021.