999 crews ‘suffered critical communication problems’ on night of bombing
EMERGENCY services suffered ‘critical’ problems communicating with each other and the public on the night of the Manchester Arena bombing, the author of an interim report into the atrocity has said.
Lord Bob Kerslake, who is reviewing what happened during in the immediate aftermath of the atrocity, said there were ‘certainly things that didn’t go in the way people would have wanted’ during May 22’s blue-light response.
At a press conference outlining his interim report, Lord Kerslake confirmed public agencies were now also being asked to sign up to a ‘Hillsborough’ charter, aimed at ensuring bereaved families are always put first in such situations. He said the inquiry would also be looking at the role played by the mainstream media and social media, including how it affected families.
Lord Kerslake was commissioned by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham last year to look into what happened on the night of May 22, when 22 people died and dozens more were injured.
Since September, he has spoken to around 170 family members – many of them through the NSPCC – and received hundreds of documents from public agencies outlining how they responded to the attack.
Lord Kerslake’s ‘progress report’ does not detail his findings around that response, but when asked about what has been uncovered so far, he confirmed a clearer picture was now emerging.
“We haven’t deliberately at this stage given findings, because we’re going to reflect on the interviews we’ve had and the response has been such that that process has taken longer than originally said.
“What we can say already, though, is that the preparations in Manchester were quite significant and that was a beneficial thing in Manchester.
“We can say there was a very powerful civic response. But we can also say that there were issues about communication which were critical. Both between the different services and between the services and the public.”
His comments came after an internal row over why firefighters were kept waiting nearly two hours before entering the Arena when other 999 crews were already inside.
Asked whether things had gone ‘wrong’, he said: “There were certainly things that didn’t go in the way people would have wanted, that is clear, alongside the things that went well. And those are the things that we will pick up.”
While not ‘pre-judging’ the findings of his report, that aspect will ‘clearly be a focus’ of it, he said.
He confirmed a clearer ‘understanding’ was emerging over the fire service delay in particular.
He added that as well as speaking to families and rank-and-file members of the emergency services and other public bodies, he has conducted face-toface interviews with Chief Constable Ian Hopkins and County Fire Officer Peter O’Reilly, who is retiring next month.
Mr Burnham stressed that the key role of the review is to uncover what happened, focusing espe- planned,” he cially on families.
That meant asking ‘difficult questions’, he said, including around families’ experience of the media.
Paying tribute to local media ‘in particular’ for the way it had handled coverage, Mr Burnham said most other outlets had also been responsible.
But in certain instances, organisations had behaved in ways that were ‘not acceptable’, he said.
He also highlighted intelligence leaked to US media outlets that included horrific images.
He has also met with Home Office officials in the last week to discuss how a pilot programme, aimed at ensuring counter-terror information is better shared across public organisations, can be rolled out in Greater Manchester.
Reiterating that the experiences of bereaved families are central to the review, Lord Kerslake said they are ‘still having their lives dominated by he effects of that terrible night’.
“There will not be quick closure from what’s happened to them,” he added.