Sir John Saunders, Chairman of the Manchester Arena Inquiry, has raised concerns about the lack of mechanisms to ensure the implementation of recommendations made to MI5 and Counter Terrorism Policing following the Manchester Arena bombing. The inquiry into the 2017 attack, which claimed the lives of 22 people and injured many more, began in September 2020.
During a recent hearing, Sir John revealed that progress on some of his recommendations, first put forward in November of the previous year, had only just begun. He emphasized that without the hearing, the work might not have commenced at all. The chairman highlighted the need for public accountability in reporting the progress of the recommendations, especially for the benefit of the bereaved families.
The issue of monitoring the recommendations made by Sir John remains unresolved, despite both MI5 and Counter Terrorism Policing accepting that mistakes were made. To address this, the chairman proposed several options for monitoring progress. These include involving the parliamentary intelligence and security committee (ISC) or Sir Brian Leveson, the Investigatory Powers Commissioner, both of whom have access to the secret report. Alternatively, Sir John and his team offered to reconvene for a day to hold a meeting with MI5 and Counter Terrorism Policing without receiving payment.
In addition to concerns about monitoring, Sir John criticized the Department of Health for its failure to introduce a scheme to verify the qualifications of first-aiders at major sports and music events. He highlighted the ongoing work required to address the “care gap” issue, where the public is left to handle severe injuries during major incidents while the ambulance service assesses the safety of response.
The chairman’s comments follow the campaign launched by Richard Caseby, whose son Matthew Caseby died after escaping from in-patient treatment at a Priory hospital. Mr. Caseby called for the monitoring of inquest recommendations.
The last report from Sir John in March revealed that MI5 had missed a “significant opportunity” to gather actionable intelligence when the bomber, Salman Abedi, returned to Manchester from Libya just days before the attack. The bereaved families have also highlighted missed opportunities to prevent attacks in the past and stressed the need for improvements.
Efforts to establish an effective monitoring system for the implementation of recommendations are crucial to ensure the prevention of future incidents and provide transparency to the public and affected families.
