The Home Office has delivered a glowing assessment of the work to deliver the national anti-radicalisation Prevent Strategy in Warwickshire, with the county exceeding national standards across all seven eligible assessment categories.
The Prevent Strategy is a national strategy that authorities and communities in the county are delivering at a local level to try and prevent radicalisation - the process through which people come to support violent extremism.
The national Prevent Duty requires authorities to help prevent the risk of people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.
It sits alongside long-established safeguarding duties on professionals to protect people from a range of other harms and helps to ensure that people who are susceptible to radicalisation are supported.
The local assessment of the work of the Warwickshire Prevent Partnership, which includes partners from across the county, was submitted to the Home Office in March.
In feeding back, the Home Office have acknowledged and praised the work of the Partnership and the Channel Panel, which identifies and provides support to individuals who are at risk of being drawn into terrorism.
If you're not already involved with our Prevent work in Warwickshire, there are a number of actions you can take to help prevent radicalisation.
There is a national Prevent Referral Form which is available on the Safe In Warwickshire website. This enables agencies to submit a Prevent referral if they feel an individual is susceptible to a violent extremist ideology.
There is a local guide to making a Prevent referral, which provides guidance on what to include, what happens to the referral, and how to find out more information about help and support.
Both the form and the guide can be found at https://safeinwarwickshire.com/radicalisation/preventing-radicalisation/3.
There's also a range of local Prevent training options for staff, and teams are being encouraged to review their training needs for the year ahead. The main training options are:
- A Home Office e-learning module, which is appropriate for all staff and provides an excellent introduction to the Prevent Duty, the risks of radicalisation and how to act on concerns. The link to access his training is https://www.support-people-susceptible-to-radicalisation.service.gov.uk/.
- Local Prevent update training events that are delivered online and in person. These take around an hour and cover the key requirements of the Prevent Duty, local threat and risk assessment, signs of radicalisation including images and symbols, online risks and how to act on concerns. They can be delivered directly to individual teams or services on request or by booking onto the corporate programme. To request this training, please email communitysafetytraining@warwickshire.gov.uk.
- For those with a specialist support or safeguarding role, a more extensive Designated Safeguarding Lead training event is available, which takes place quarterly and covers the topics of Prevent in more detail, using case studies and reviewing local risk assessment guidance. This can also be accessed by emailing communitysafetytraining@warwickshire.gov.uk.
Information on these training options can be found at https://safeinwarwickshire.com/radicalisation/preventing-radicalisation-training.
You can find out more about Prevent and the Channel Panel on the Safe in Warwickshire website at https://safeinwarwickshire.com/radicalisation.
Please help us raise awareness of the Prevent Strategy in Warwickshire, the referral form and guide, and the available training. If you have any questions about Prevent, you can email geoffthomas@warwickshire.gov.uk.
