Following the HMIC-led tri-service review, the JESIP team, along with the Emergency Services Strategic Leads, have worked with the central Government departments to develop a proposed programme of work in order address the recommendations made in the final report and to continue to embed interoperability.

It has been widely accepted for some time that whilst much progress has been made since the inception of JESIP in 2012, the cultural changes this programme was aiming to achieve would take several more years of sustained effort to fully embed the principles and ways of working JESIP has established.

In March 2016 co-funding between the Government and the emergency services was agreed for a two year programme to March 2018. This includes maintaining the small central JESIP team who will continue to be hosted by the Civil Contingencies Secretariat at their offices in London. The team report to the Interoperability Board with oversight provided by the Ministerial board.

In light of recent weather events, worldwide terrorist attacks and with the current UK threat level remaining severe, effective national resilience when needed is essential. It is vital that all services consider what they may still need to do to embed JESIP and not consider JESIP to be a “job done”. It rests with all services to help us all continually improve interoperability through joint training, testing & exercising and the use of Joint Organisational Learning (JOL).

The JESIP team will be writing to all services and Local Resilience Forums in the coming weeks to more fully explain our work programme and objectives. We will also be working as hard as we can to engage at a national level with the wider responder community during the course of the year.

What does embedding look like?

It is important to note that embedding JESIP may look different across the variety of organisations involved in emergency response. Not all staff will need in-depth tri-service training. For some an awareness of the Principles and how to generate a M/ETHANE report when arriving on scene will be enough. The variety of information already available on the website, in e-learning packages and via the recently launched JESIP App may be sufficient.

For all emergency services, embedding JESIP includes integrating JESIP content into emergency plans, policies and procedures and relevant training or professional development for:

• First responder staff training to ensure they have an awareness of JESIP and can generate a M/ETHANE report if required
• Control room staff, new starters and those on promotion
• Those in command roles to ensure they are able to apply the JESIP principles and use the JDM effectively
• Local partners by working on appropriate multi-agency training so we can expand the reach of JESIP to include the wider responder community

For those in the wider community it means:

• Understanding the JESIP Joint Doctrine and how and when it may impact on staff
• Using the range of training and awareness products already available to help staff understand JESIP
• Providing opportunities to exercise with other agencies as much as possible to understand each other’s roles, responsibilities and capabilities

The Joint Doctrine Consultation

The revised JESIP Joint Doctrine is currently out for consultation and we urge all organisations and individuals who have a role to play in responding to incidents and managing emergencies to contribute to this. How this key joint working guidance evolves is essential to ensure we provide the best possible outcome for the public we all serve. JESIP – working together – saving lives.

HMIC Tri-Service Report

A copy of the full report can be downloaded from the HMIC website.