Department Publishes First Statistical Release and the Findings of Exercise Meridian

The Emergency Management Department of the Velocity Interoperability Network today published its first statistical release. The release covers the transition period from 10 August to 5 September 2026, during which member organisations transferred their emergency arrangements to the Department, and records the position at establishment on 6 September 2026.

During the transition period, 41 incidents were recorded across the six principal sites, of which 34 were closed within the day on which they were reported. Nine exercises were held, 186 members of site response teams completed training, and 11,900 addresses were registered to receive Network alerts. At establishment the register of emergency plans contained twenty-four plans, all of them reviewed within the preceding six weeks.

The release also carries the findings of Exercise Meridian, held at Meridian Court on 27 August 2026. The exercise tested the site emergency plan and the flooding and power failure hazard plans against a scenario in which surface water entered the lower floor of the site and the electrical supply failed. The exercise ran for four hours and twenty minutes. Three findings were recorded: the warning to staff took eleven minutes against a standard of five; the register of persons requiring assistance at the site was out of date; and the reserve lighting on one stair was not tested. All three have been carried into the revised site emergency plan.

The Department will publish statistics quarterly. The next release, covering the quarter ending 30 September 2026, will be published in October, and will include the findings of Exercise Northgate II, to be held at Northgate Relay on 13 October 2026. The full release is set out on the Statistics page of this site.