2022 has seen JESIP turn 10 years old! As we enter the festive period and the year draws to a close, JESIP Deputy Senior Responsible Officer Carl Daniels takes the opportunity to reflect on the last decade and what has been a particularly busy year for the JESIP team.

We started the year by welcoming Lizzie Jones to the team. Lizzie joined us as the National Joint Organisational Learning (JOL) Coordinator covering Charis Taylor, who has been on maternity leave (both Charis and her daughter are doing well). Since joining the JESIP team, Lizzie has been busy engaging JOL users to better understand their needs and to encourage the identification and sharing of more lessons through JOL online; providing services with the opportunity to learn from training, exercises and real incidents, which significantly improves the chances of responders working together to save lives and reduce harm.

Throughout the year, we have continued to increase our library of support products to assist organisations with embedding JESIP. To name just a few:

• We have launched a completely new e-learning package which is fully aligned to the Joint Doctrine: The Interoperability Framework (Edition 3). Responder organisations can download the SCORM files and install the package directly on their own learning management system. 
• We have also created a suite of METHANE explainer videos. These are simple animations, each 3 to 4 minutes in length showing the application of METHANE in different scenarios.
• We have relaunched the JESIP website with improved user experience and navigation.
• Created a new look newsletter to help us communicate better with those interested in JESIP – sign up here!
• We have revised the JESIP Interoperability Multi-Agency Training Course to ensure it reflects the latest version of the Joint Doctrine, including the training support documents, and rolled this out through 17 centrally co-ordinated Train the Trainer workshops.

We reached a significant milestone this year too – in September JESIP turned 10 years old!  There have been many changes in that decade: Three editions of the Joint Doctrine with each one expanding its reach and appeal to category one, two and third sector organisations; a network of JESIP strategic leads, training leads and a JOL single point of contact (SPoC) in every police, fire and rescue service and ambulance trust across the country (there are also JOL SPoCs and users across Local Resilience Forums and other responder organisations); related training products for classroom and virtual learning; a mobile app which continues to expand the content and functionality it offers and, of course, the introduction in 2015 of JOL Online – the first multi-agency secure application for the sole purpose of identifying and sharing lessons. 

JOL Online really is a step-change in the organisational learning sphere, it provides us with the tools to capture, analyse and share lessons identified, but significantly there is the action note process for the most high-risk issues. This allows us to issue an action note to services detailing a set of recommended actions to be undertaken, with appropriate timescales attached.  Services are then to respond back to the JESIP team with their actions, which are then recorded for auditing purposes. We have issued 13 action notes since 2015 with the most recent in July this year regarding interoperability at water rescue incidents.

The opportunity to learn from incidents is a critical aspect in working together, savings lives and reducing harm and nothing demonstrates this more than the recently released Manchester Arena Inquiry, Volume 2: Emergency Response report.  At over 900 pages and with 149 recommendations, the report provides a detailed account of the response to the attack.  Along with colleagues across government and responder organisations, we are considering the report closely and looking at how we can support services in embedding JESIP to improve future response.

‘JESIP was not a bolt-on. It was fundamental to all aspects of a Major Incident response.’
(p.155, Part i, Manchester Arena Inquiry, Volume 2: Emergency Response report.)

As we consider the year that is drawing to a close, we also wanted to reflect on the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the 8^th September. We joined with the nation in collectively mourning her passing and taking the time to consider the impact she had on all of our lives; an ever-constant and steady influence, bringing people together, not just in the UK but across the world. 

We are sure the passing of Her Majesty will have made many of you think about family and friends – past and present – and as we approach Christmas these ties become ever more important and poignant for many.  We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of you who will be working over Christmas and New Year to keep our communities safe; the work you do really is appreciated, and to all the families who support the key workers in doing their jobs, we thank you too, they certainly couldn’t do it without your support.

Carl Daniels MBE

Deputy Senior Responsible Officer