Share information between emergency services with MAIT
Updated 9 August 2022
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Use the (MAIT) standard to share electronic incident records if you鈥檙e an emergency service.
1. Summary of the standard鈥檚 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鈥檚 emergencies.
The government chooses standards using the open standards approval process and the Open Standards Board has final approval. Read more about the .
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
- 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 鈥榗ommon operating picture鈥� 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鈥� data protection policies to confirm they鈥檙e willing to share personal data