An open letter from Lord Kerslake

Lord Kerslake issued the following open letter on Tuesday 28 November 2018:

I am writing to you to give you an update on where the Manchester Arena Review has reached in its work.

I am sure you recall that both Mayor Andy Burnham and I have been committed to ensuring that the people directly affected by the horrendous attack in May this year will have their voices, views and opinions placed at the heart of the Independent Review I am leading.

I hope that you wont mind me writing an open letter, but I feel that it is important that I keep you and everyone affected up to date with the progress of the Independent Review.

The Review has set out to examine the preparedness for and response to the Manchester Arena Terrorist Attack to see which responses were effective to inform future good practice, together with understanding what steps might be taken in the future to address any areas that may be strengthened or improved.

We have worked with the NSPCC, utilising phone-lines, emails, letters and face-to-face meetings with people, to receive people’s comments, opinions, views and thoughts.

I and other Review Panel members want to thank everyone for their contributions and greatly appreciate the time, effort and great insights you have afforded us to ensure we understand what this was really like for you.

The NSPCC contact lines are now closed down from the 24th November and we will now look at and seek to understand what we have been told.

We have also had extensive and frank cooperation from all levels of staff from the many responding agencies, authorities and services.

In commissioning this Independent Review the Mayor asked me to publish an interim progress report in January and a full report later in the year. I will publish the progress report early in January which will give an update on what the Review Panel has undertaken to that point.

The full report will explain our actual findings, learning and recommendations, with any further actions thought appropriate.

Thank you for your support in this challenging process and work and I will share both the progress report and the full report with you in due course.

Yours faithfully

Lord Kerslake