The government is today facing calls to overhaul security arrangements at major venues nationally in memory of Martyn Hett, who was killed in the Manchester Arena bombing.

'Martyn's Law' - championed by his mother Figen Murray - would see increased and mandatory security measures at all large public venues, including obligatory metal detectors and bag searches.

Her petition to government has more than 13,000 signatries.

Today the campaign was backed by mayor Andy Burnham, who called on the government to convene a 'national review' of security at all major sporting and entertainment event venues.

And crucially, he said any review must also consider security measures during and after events have finished, as crowds leave.

Mr Burnham said he supported the principle of 'Martyn’s Law' as his office published a report addressing the progress being made on the key recommendations raised by the Kerslake Report, the result of a review set up to assess the preparedness for, and emergency response to, the Arena atrocity on May 22, 2017.

Martyn's mother Figen Murray is petitioning government

An estimated 14,000 people, mainly teenagers and their families, attended the Ariana Grande concert.

The bomb killed 22, injured more than 160 others and left many more with psychological and emotional trauma. It was the deadliest terror attack in the UK since the 7/7 London bombings in 2005.

The Kerslake Report, chaired by former civil servant Lord Bob Kerslake, made 56 recommendations in total, covering the emergency services, national emergency response arrangements, health services, councils, a host of other agencies and the media.

Today's report reveals 21 of them are complete or substantially complete, progress is underway in 27 and in eight of them, further progress is required.

Mr Burnham said he was confident Manchester was now 'even stronger going forward', but said he 'remained concerned' about security considerations at event venues.

Figen Murray

Families of other victims of the atrocity have also called for the adoption of Martyn's Law in support of Ms Murray's campaign.

Mr Burnham said: "But one gap that does remain is around the wider security considerations at events. At present, security arrangements are essentially voluntary and this can lead to confusion and variation. 

"I believe there is a clear case for a thorough review of security measures at major sporting and entertainment event venues to establish clearly understood mandatory standards and I call on the government to initiate one."

"We need to have clear minimum and mandatory standards at all venues so there is clarity for operators, and confidence for the public. Figen has rightly highlighted this issue and her call for a change to the law needs to be taken seriously by the government.

"Public concern about carrying weapons has only been increased by the recent debate about knife crime.

"The Manchester attack, at the end of an event, and the Paris attack, in the middle of an event, whilst very different in nature, may indicate that there can be no assumptions about whether the risk of an attack is higher at the start, during or at the end of an event."

Lord Bob Kerslake delivers the report's findings

Terrorists killed 90 people and wounded many more during a rock concert at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris in November, 2015.

Ms Murray's campaign, partly the result of her own experiences at busy venues since the concert bombing, followed a report into the Arena attack by Parliamentary watchdog the Intelligence and Security Committee, which suggested counter-terrorism training could be provided to qualified stewards at venues like the Arena.

Read more of today's top stories here

The report even hinted at possible new legislation to force government to engage more with the owners of often crowded public venues over security.

Ms Murray told the M.E.N.: "I think it's incredibly important in this day and age for there to be a standardisation across the board - it should be a legal requirement for venues of a certain size to conduct thorough checks with metal detectors and full bag searches. I'm determined to go to the very top with this.

"We shouldn't have to wait for another terrible event to happen to start taking this issue seriously."

Emergency services on the night

Much-loved PR manager Martyn, from Stockport, was 29.

Today's report - a year on from Kerslake - claims all agencies have made progress towards implementing the recommendations.

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service was singled out for criticism, with the Kerslake Report finding the service 'played no meaningful role in the response to the attack for nearly two hours'.

Amid confusion, firefighters desperate to help were held back and sent away from the scene in what the report blamed on 'a combination of poor communication and poor procedures'. Mr Burnham ordered a 'root and branch' review of the entire service.

Today he said there was clarity of 'command roles and responsibilities' within the service and a transformation programme was announced last month. Controversially however it includes merging stations, a reduction in the number of appliances and support staff cuts.

Andy Burnham

Among a raft of other published changes across many agencies, Greater Manchester Police is said to be enhancing its senior officer capacity and resilience during major incidents, response ambulances will now carry additional stretchers and mental health trusts are developing a joint response plan to improve provision of services to support adults and children who experience trauma.

Kerslake also found that Vodafone, which holds the national Home Office contract for emergency post-disaster hotlines, experienced a 'catastrophic' technical failure on the night that meant no fully-functioning phone number could be set up for people in search of information.

Today's report said Vodafone had given a 'guarantee' to government that the failure of the National Mutual Aid Telephony system would never happen again.

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