What is Prevent Duty?
Prevent Duty is the duty in the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 on specified authorities, in the exercise of their functions, to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.
Prevent was originally established by the Labour government in 2003 and its scope was broadened by the coalition government in 2011.
Prevent’s stated purpose is to safeguard and support those vulnerable to radicalisation and to stop them from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.
Prevent taken more literally is one of the four “Ps” of the government’s counter-terrorism strategy, along with Pursue, Protect and Prepare.
What is Channel?
Channel forms a key part of Prevent. The Channel process adopts a multi-agency approach to identify and provide support to individuals who are at risk of being drawn ino terrorism. In particular safeguarding, supporting and protecting children, your people and vulnerable adults at risk of radicalisation, extremism or terrorist related activity.
Prevent and channel statistics 2021
Since Prevent Duty was introduced in 2015, 3,037 referrals have been supported through the Channel Programme. Channel aims to move vulnerable individuals away from violent ideologies that could have resulted in harm to themselves. 4,915 referrals to Prevent were made in the year ending on 31 March 2021.
This represents a decrease of 22% compared to the previous year (6,287) and the lowest number of referrals received since comparable data are available (year ending March 2016). This decrease is likely to have been driven by the effects of public health restrictions that were in place throughout the year to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
In 2020 / 2021, the breakdown of referrals was as follows:
- 51% were related to mixed, unclear or unstable ideologies*
- 22% to Islamist radicalisation
- 25% to extreme right-wing radicalisation
*Mixed, unstable or unclear reflects instances where the ideology presented may involve a combination of elements from multiple ideologies (mixed), shift between different ideologies (unstable), or where the individual does not present a coherent ideology yet may still be vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism (unclear).
There were 688 referrals adopted as a case in the year ending March 2021, four less cases compared with the previous year (692). 14% of referrals to Prevent were adopted as a Channel case, up from 11% of referrals adopted in the previous year (692 of 6,287).
Prevent addresses all forms of terrorism. Of all the Channel cases adopted in 2020/2021:
- 46% were related to extreme right-wing radicalisation (317)
- 30% came under a Mixed, Unclear or Unstable (MMU) ideology (205)
- 22% were linked to Islamist radicalisation (154)
- 2% were related to other radicalisation concerns (16)
Prevent makes up an extremely small part of overall safeguarding referrals. In 2018-19, over one million safeguarding referrals were made, in comparison to just 6,287 Prevent referrals in 2019-20 and 4,915 in 2020-21.
What is Prevent Training and who needs it?
According to HM Government’s Home Office, Prevent Duty Guidance makes it clear that frontline staff who engage with the public should:
- understand what radicalisation means and why people may be vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism as a consequence of it.
- be aware of what we mean by the term “extremism” and the relationship between extremism and terrorism.
- know what measures are available to prevent people from becoming drawn into terrorism and how to challenge the extremist ideology that can be associated with it.
- understand how to obtain support for people who may be being exploited by radicalising influences.
Frontline staff are those that work in health, education (primary schools, high schools, academies, colleges, universities and other), childcare, offender management, youth justice, prisons and probabtion, police, fire service, employment, charitable and voluntary services, community and health services as well as other local authorities.
All those organisations and services with a Prevent Duty need to ensure they provide appropriate training and support for staff and need to be able to demonstrate compliance.
About Prevent Duty training
Who is our Prevent Training for?
RealSense are pleased to offer our Prevent Duty Training – ideal for frontline staff that engage with the public particularly in the education sector. This Prevent Duty E-Learning course is approved by leading industry bodies IIRSM and CPD.
Intelligence indicates that further terrorist attacks in our country are ‘highly likely’ and experience tells us that the threat comes not just from foreign nationals but from terrorists born and bred in Britain. Our government’s Home Office counter-terrorism strategy contains a plan to prevent radicalisation and stop would-be terrorists from committing mass murder. As explained previously, the Government’s Prevent strategy, is part of the overall counter-terrorism strategy.
Prevent Duty E-Learning Overview
The online Prevent Duty E-Learning Course starts with an overview of the Government’s Prevent strategy, and then looks at some of the reasons people become extremists. The Prevent Duty Online Course goes on to cover the objectives of the Prevent strategy, how to base your actions on a risk-based approach, what to do if you are concerned and much more.
Online training is flexible, efficient, and cost-effective, meaning the candidate can progress through the modules at their own pace and in their own time to fit the training around their work and personal life.
Duration of the course
65 minutes
Prevent Duty Course Contents
- Introduction to the Course
- What is Prevent?
- Prevent Objectives
- Delivering Prevent with a Risk-Based Approach
- Extremism, Radicalisation and Terrorism
- What Should You Do If You Are Concerned?
- The Channel Process
- British Values
For more details about how we can help then please take a look at our Prevent Duty Training course and other courses in the Health and Social Care online training section of our course library.