Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has the quickest response times to 999 calls of any police force in England, it has been revealed.
It’s all according to data sourced via police.uk.
The latest data from November of last year shows that 41,786 out of 44,491 emergency 999 calls made were answered by GMP within 10 seconds (93.9%), with the average speed of answer for that month being just two seconds, and then the following month, 93.4% of some 45,860 calls were answered by the police force within 10 seconds.
Average answer times for non-emergency calls using 101 also reduced within the year, from just over a minute in January 2023 to 30 seconds in January 2024.
June 2023 saw the highest levels of demand for 101 non-emergency calls, the data has revealed, with some 79,109 calls coming into GMP’s Force Contact, Crime and Operations (FCCO) centre and 83.2% of those answered within the 101 non-emergency service level required of three minutes.
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GMP revealed as having quickest response times to 999 calls of any police force in England / Credit: GMP
GMP is partly owing its increase in call response times to the fact it has made “significant investment” in its FCCO centre recently.
In particular, a new leadership team was established at the centre back in 2022, and this was accompanied by what the force has called a “concerted recruitment campaign” to provide all call handlers with the resources required to answer calls for service “efficiently”.
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On top of this, a so-called ‘revised graded response policy’ was also introduced, with the basis of this being an initial THRIVE (Threat, Harm, Risk, Investigation, Vulnerability, Engagement) assessment – which ensures the force now prioritises its calls for service as “effectively” as it possibly can.
#GOODNEWS | GMP had the quickest response times to 999 calls of any police force in the country.
Latest data shows – 📞 93.9% answered within 10 seconds in November 2023 🎧 93.4% answered within 10 seconds in December 2023
“In particular our hardworking call handlers, customer enquiry unit, digital team, radio dispatchers, crime recorders, and force operations centre team who answer and respond to calls for service.”
Featured Image – GMP
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Luxury Manchester gym Blok confirms permanent closure after weeks of uncertainty
Daisy Jackson
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure, weeks after the doors to the premium fitness facility mysteriously closed.
Around a fortnight ago, members began to arrive to their classes to find the gym on Ducie Street locked up and a forfeiture notice on the door – but at the time, Blok said that it was fighting to reopen.
Sadly, in an email sent to members today, its founder has confirmed that the studio is now permanently closed.
Blok – which has several very successful sites down in London – said that its relationship with its landlord has ‘broken down to a point where trust has been lost’.
The gym wrote that it’s been left with ‘no workable way forward’.
They said: “BLOK Manchester was a space built by our loyal and dedicated community. Whether you joined us for one class or one hundred, we are deeply grateful. You helped create something genuinely special in an incredible city.”
In the immediate future, they said they’ll be supporting the team of fantastic trainers who worked here, as well as looking after members.
Members will be contacted within a few hours with options and refunds owed.
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure. Credit: The Manc Group
CEO and founder Ed Stanbury said: “While this marks the end of a chapter, we don’t see it as the end of our story in Manchester. We’re already speaking with developers about potential future sites and remain committed to returning to the city when the time is right.
“Thank you for being part of our story so far. Let’s shape the future of wellness. The mission continues.”
Commenting on Blok’s Instagram post – its first in almost a fortnight – people have been sharing their sadness at the closure of its Manchester site.
One person wrote: “beautiful space, beautiful staff and beautiful community.”
Another said: “Sending love to all the instructors !! :(((( gutted”
Someone else commented: “THE BEST CLASSES. I’m gutted.”
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Emily Sergeant -
19th February 2024 
