Guidance

Share information between emergency services with MAIT

Updated 9 August 2022

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-standards-for-government/multi-agency-incident-transfer

Use the Multi Agency Incident Transfer Version 1.0.0 (MAIT) standard to share electronic incident records if you’re an emergency service.

1. Summary of the standard’s use for government

MAIT is an XML schema. It allows emergency services to share electronic incident records.

Using this standard means emergency services can reduce the time it takes to respond to an incident, because they can keep each other informed of each other’s emergencies.

The government chooses standards using the open standards approval process and the Open Standards Board has final approval. Read more about the process for Multi Agency Incident Transfer.

2. How this standard meets user needs

The users of this standard are mainly category 1 emergency responders:

  • police services
  • ambulance trusts
  • fire and rescue services
  • local authorities
  • HM Coastguard

Category 2 responders such as the Highways Agency can also use this standard. Other voluntary groups can also use the standard to receive information relevant for them.

The MAIT standard can:

  • reduce the time taken to log and respond to emergency calls from 4 minutes to 16 seconds as stated in the case study by the Chief Fire Officer Association (pdf, 208 KB)
  • send incident information to one or many emergency service organisations
  • present incident information in a standard form
  • make sure the shared information is secure and reliable

The MAIT standard meets user needs by:

  • improving fallback arrangements at peak times, as emergency services can log calls for each other
  • improving how emergency services connect by using a centralised hub instead of many point-to-point connections
  • being the basis of a ‘common operating picture’ to allow better shared situational awareness
  • improving incident data sharing

3. How to use the standard

When you use MAIT you should:

  • make sure your system can integrate with current and new supplier systems
  • check if your Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system needs updating to allow messaging between organisations
  • set up the end-to-end authentication and validation of messages
  • check the identifiers for emergency agencies are up-to-date
  • make sure confirmation messages are set up for report originators and receiving organisations
  • make formal agreements with local government organisations as they do not use the open standards selection process
  • review organisations’ data protection policies to confirm they’re willing to share personal data
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