Recommendation Date
Recipient Name
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment & Next Generation Critical Communications
Text
On 26 February 2025, the Commission recommended that the Chief Executive of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and Next Generation Critical Communications collaboratively conduct a review of the emergency 111 system with sector stakeholders, to remove unnecessary delays and improve New Zealand’s emergency response efficiency.
Reply Text
On 24 March 2025, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment replied:
Thank you for your letter of 11 March 2025 to our Chief Executive Carolyn Tremain informing her of the final recommendation of the Transport Accident Investigation Commission’s investigation into the i-Catcher incident, specifically your recommendation relating to the 111 emergency calling system.
In your letter you requested confirmation of our intentions with respect to the final recommendation. We can confirm that the final recommendation is under consideration, subject to further discussion with other agencies that form part of the emergency response system and relevant Ministers.
On 2 April 2025, Next Generation Critical Communications replied:
Thank you for your email on 1 April notifying us of the recommendation for NGCC that will be published in the Goose Bay i-Catcher inquiry report on 3 April: ‘that the Chief Executive of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and Next Generation Critical Communications collaboratively conduct a review of the emergency 111 system with sector stakeholders, to remove unnecessary delays and improve New Zealand’s emergency response efficiency.”
We can confirm that the final recommendation is under consideration, subject to further discussion with MBIE and other sector stakeholders across the emergency response system.
NGCC was formed in 2020 to work on behalf of Fire and Emergency NZ, Hato Hone St John, Police and Wellington Free Ambulance to deliver the Public Safety Network Te Kupenga Marutau - a government investment of $1.4 billion in a common, complementary suite of modern, digital, secure critical communications capabilities to increase communications resilience and reliability, and support Agency interoperability. This includes a new national Land Mobile Radio network, Cellular Roaming and Priority services, and personal alerting.
Our priority is to deliver the Public Safety Network solutions for the four Agencies but we are also actively engaging with stakeholders to consider how NGCC might evolve in due course, including to support government priorities regarding strengthening New Zealand’s broader public safety and emergency management communications capability.
Thank you for your letter of 11 March 2025 to our Chief Executive Carolyn Tremain informing her of the final recommendation of the Transport Accident Investigation Commission’s investigation into the i-Catcher incident, specifically your recommendation relating to the 111 emergency calling system.
In your letter you requested confirmation of our intentions with respect to the final recommendation. We can confirm that the final recommendation is under consideration, subject to further discussion with other agencies that form part of the emergency response system and relevant Ministers.
On 2 April 2025, Next Generation Critical Communications replied:
Thank you for your email on 1 April notifying us of the recommendation for NGCC that will be published in the Goose Bay i-Catcher inquiry report on 3 April: ‘that the Chief Executive of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and Next Generation Critical Communications collaboratively conduct a review of the emergency 111 system with sector stakeholders, to remove unnecessary delays and improve New Zealand’s emergency response efficiency.”
We can confirm that the final recommendation is under consideration, subject to further discussion with MBIE and other sector stakeholders across the emergency response system.
NGCC was formed in 2020 to work on behalf of Fire and Emergency NZ, Hato Hone St John, Police and Wellington Free Ambulance to deliver the Public Safety Network Te Kupenga Marutau - a government investment of $1.4 billion in a common, complementary suite of modern, digital, secure critical communications capabilities to increase communications resilience and reliability, and support Agency interoperability. This includes a new national Land Mobile Radio network, Cellular Roaming and Priority services, and personal alerting.
Our priority is to deliver the Public Safety Network solutions for the four Agencies but we are also actively engaging with stakeholders to consider how NGCC might evolve in due course, including to support government priorities regarding strengthening New Zealand’s broader public safety and emergency management communications capability.
Related Investigation(s)