Most European nations have a dedicated, well-established & trusted, specialised critical communications operator sitting between the Interior Ministry and the public safety agencies & end-users. This same operator is ideally placed to lead the transition from narrowband TETRA to broadband LTE/5G taking into account local requirements & conditions. UK Home Office/ESN are increasingly looking like outliers, struggling to deliver an operational public safety LTE network in spite of being one of the first to start their transition, & now embroiled in a lengthy & highly damaging dispute with its key technology supplier. Can ESN actually ever be delivered under the current model or does the UK need to align more with its European counterparts to get ESN over the line?

Is there a business case for your organisation to adopt emerging technologies?  What would be required to propel you to invest in these technologies?  What benefit do you see different technologies having on the ground?

What data sources does your agency currently use to inform decision-making, and how effective have they been in improving situational awareness and response?  What are some of the challenges that you have faced when trying to collect and analyse data in real-time during critical incidents?  How can technology be used to improve data collection and analysis in public safety, and what steps can be taken to ensure that data is shared effectively across different agencies and departments?