The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Secretary of State (Oliver Dowden)
On Sunday, the Cabinet Office, working alongside the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the UK’s mobile network operators, delivered a successful test of the emergency alerts system.
The test was the largest simultaneous public message in UK history and was conducted in line with established international best practice. The test had two objectives: to test the operational performance of the system with a view to making technical or performance adjustments; and to raise public awareness of the system in advance of any use in a real emergency.
As I set out in my written ministerial statement to the House on 23 March, this is a critical step forward in the UK’s ability to respond to and inform the public about emergency situations that present a threat to life or property. It is an important new tool in our toolkit to help keep the country safe.
The vast majority of compatible devices—4G and 5G enabled, an estimated 80% of the total number of mobile phones in the UK—received the alert. The alert was approved by the Cabinet Office at 14:59:08 and issued by networks within seconds. This was timed to minimise disruption to events, showings and fixtures due to begin at 15:00:00. Two versions of the alert were issued: one in English and the second a bi-lingual alert in English and Welsh. As intended, the broadcast continued until 15:21:00, when the Cabinet Office issued the instruction for networks to stop transmitting the alert.
No security or public safety issues have been reported as a result of the test. Likewise, no events or sporting fixtures were materially disrupted. The public were well prepared, following a wide-reaching public communications campaign in the six weeks prior to the test, including extensive engagement with organisations which support domestic abuse victims who might have a secondary hidden phone.
The Cabinet Office, the mobile network operators and other stakeholders are now conducting an exercise to identify and action operational issues following the test. One mobile network provider, Three UK, experienced an issue with supporting multiple messages. This led to some Three UK customers failing to receive the emergency alert. The Cabinet Office is working closely with Three UK to implement an appropriate fix to ensure that that does not happen with future emergency alerts.
A further issue arose with the Welsh version of the test message. Following a short internal review, we believe that this error occurred as a result of an operational process, whereby an online system made a small autocorrect, rendering one word in the Welsh test message incorrect. The essence of the message remained unchanged. We are also aware that a very small number of devices received more than one alert. Early technical assessment shows that this is due to a small number of cellular masts continuing to broadcast after the end of the test, which could affect users especially in areas of low mobile coverage. Anyone travelling between England and Wales during the test would also have experienced two alerts. This issue will be addressed as part of the lessons learned exercise.
The system is now fully operable in the event of a real emergency. Sunday’s test serves as an important development in the roll-out of an emergency alerting system. It has allowed us to further validate the effectiveness of the system and to build public awareness, familiarity and trust. Following the UK-wide test, the Cabinet Office will conduct further operational testing. There are no current plans for a further UK-wide, or public, test of the system, though it is likely that there will be further public tests in the coming years to ensure the system is operational to help keep the British people safe.
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