Thanks for the help - a VLOOKUP won't help I don't think I need the drop down list(s) to be only applicable on the entry I initially enter.

Column B's header is 'Type' under that in B2 the data validation is '=Type' from my data sheet on another tab. If I select 'Incident' from this drop down in B2 I then only get a specific drop down in column C2 (which is named 'Nature of the incident/allegation') which is what I want it to do but I can't get this to work in the 3rd drop down.

Additionally in column B if I select 'Complaint' (the next option in the drop down after 'Incident') then in C2 I also have the correct specific drop down(s). Which is perfect but I can't figure out how I managed that in the first place. I need to repeat this for the 3 remaining drop down options in B2. Column C2 has the following in Data Validation =INDIRECT(SUBSTITUTE(B2," ","")) and I can't work out how I've managed to get the first two to work but now I can't get the rest too.

Again please accept my apologies I know this isn't very helpful especially with no data to look at. I'm pretty sure this is user error on my part and I'm missing something very obvious.