Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles

Events over recent years have shown the need for the emergency services to work together as effectively as possible during major, serious or catastrophic incidents or events. However, reviews following major incidents such as the July 2005 London bombings, the wide-area floods across the UK in 2014, and the shooting of 12 people in Cumbria by Derrick Bird in 2010, all reported gaps and failings in the interoperability between the services.

The Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Programme (JESIP) was established in 2012 following a report by the Association of Chief Police Officers, Chief Fire Officers Association (National Resilience) and Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE). The report was submitted to the Home Secretary in April 2012.

JESIP as a programme formally ended in September 2014 and moved into a period of consolidation. In April 2015, it was renamed as the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles.

JESIP’s stated aim is:

“[t]o ensure the blue light services are trained and exercised to work together as effectively as possible at all levels of command in response to major or complex incidents (including fast moving terrorist scenarios) so that as many lives as possible can be saved.”

2015/16 review

In January 2015, we accepted a commission from the Home Secretary to lead a joint review of JESIP. We carried out the review with the Association of Ambulances Chief Executives and the Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser.

This review examined how well the emergency services have embedded the principles and given a view on the future direction of the programme. The review team, which included people from all three services, carried out fieldwork in a representative sample of organisations in June and July 2015. HMI Mike Cunningham led on the project. The report was published in April 2016.

Get the report

The tri-service review of the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles

Further information about the JESIP programme, its aims, progress and principles, and available training can be found on the JESIP website.

Please note: In July 2017 HMIC took on responsibility for fire & rescue service inspections and was renamed HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS). Inspections carried out before July 2017 may continue to refer to HMIC.