Prevent

Prevent Policy

A Prevent policy includes all members of staff and learners. A Safeguarding policy covers Under 19’s and vulnerable adults. Functional Skills UK (FSUK) have a legal responsibility to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.

To reduce the risks of terrorism we need not only to stop the terrorist attacks but also to prevent people becoming terrorists. There isn’t a single profile of someone who may be at risk of being drawn into terrorism. People who are vulnerable to becoming involved in terrorism can be any age, from any group, faith, ethnicity or background. If you read the information below and believe you, or someone you know is at risk of being drawn into extremism or radicalised then please follow the reporting channels within this policy. FSUK staff have had training and can help.

Learn More about ACT here

There are many factors associated with a person who becomes or could become vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism:

Peer pressure
Influence from other people
The Internet
Bullying
Crime and Anti-social behaviour
Family tensions
Race or hate crime victim
Lack of self-esteem or identity
Personal or political grievances
Personal hardships – poverty, disadvantage and social exclusion
Traumatic events, global, national or personal

There are many signs that a person is being drawn into terrorism, this is not an exhaustive list:

Withdrawn
Visual changes in appearance
Learning/speaking a different language
Avoiding eye contact
Defensive body language
Attitude
Decline in attendance

Definition of extremism

Extremism as is defined in law as: vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance for those with different faiths and beliefs. We also include in our definition of extremism calls for the death of members of our armed forces, whether in this country or overseas.

(Counter-terrorism and Security Act 2015)

Examples of extremism:

White supremacists
Anti-Semitism
Holocaust denial
Race and religion hatred
Homophobia

Definition of radicalisation

Radicalisation is a process by which an individual or group comes to adopt increasingly extreme political, social, or religious ideals and aspirations that reject or undermine the status quo or reject and/or undermine contemporary ideas and expressions of freedom of choice. For example, radicalism can originate from a broad social consensus against progressive changes in society. Radicalisation can be both violent and nonviolent, although most academic literature focuses on radicalisation into violent extremism. There are multiple pathways that constitute the process of radicalisation, which can be independent but are usually mutually reinforcing.

The Governments strategy for countering international terrorism is called CONTEST.

Prevent strategy is one of the 4 strategies – Their aim of Prevent is to stop people becoming or supporting terrorists, by challenging the spread of terrorist ideology, supporting vulnerable individuals, and working in key sectors and institutions. This is a proactive strategy to mitigate risk.

Channel is a key element of the Prevent strategy, it is a multi-agency approach to protect people at risk from radicalisation. Channel is about Safeguarding children and adults from being drawn into committing terrorist–related activity. It is about early intervention to protect and divert people away from the risk they face before illegality occurs. Channel assess vulnerability separately around three dimensions:

Engagement with a group, cause or ideology
Intent to cause harm; and
Capability to cause harm

Referral – when a person is identified a referral is made to Channel police practitioner

Preliminary assessment – Vulnerability assessment

Multi-Agency Panel – Safeguarding and promoting the welfare and vulnerable children and adults is the responsibility of all statutory partners

Support – If the person is suitable for help through the channel process support packages and interventions will be put in place.

The remaining three strategies are:

Pursue: Aims to disrupt and stop terrorist attacks, wherever possible by prosecuting those who have engaged in terrorist related activity. Active Investigation stage and intel-gathering.

Protect: Aims to strengthen our protection against a terrorist attack in the UK or against our interests overseas and reduce our vulnerability.

Prepare: Aims to mitigate the impact of a terrorist attack where that attack cannot be stopped.

(ref: http://www.preventforfeandtraining.org.uk/get-training)

At FSUK, we are committed to keeping our staff and tutors aware so they can safeguard our learners. All staff and tutors will be asked to undergo prevent training (Foundation Learning, online module). Tutors will be asked to complete the Practitioners module and staff will be asked to complete the Support Staff module. Welfare officers and managers will be asked to complete the Leaders and manager’s module.

Safeguarding concern

We must use our professional judgement to decide what a safeguarding concern is. When referring an individual. Two things that will always be a Safeguarding concern and should be reported are:

Evidence of sharing extremism websites
Evidence of homophobia/ religious prejudice

Who to report to:

Staff and all learners (including apprentices) are expected to report any concerns to the designated Safeguarding/Prevent officer (Luke Hardy and Charlie Dew).

luke@swimuk.org

charlie@swimuk.org

01273 434400 – option 2

Apprentices should understand that they have our support if they have concerns regarding their workplace and should follow the same reporting procedures.

As with Safeguarding concerns an incident report form will be completed by the member of staff/learner who has reported the concern.

Incidents are logged on a spreadsheet on a password protected spreadsheet. Only Safeguarding and Welfare Officers have access to this spreadsheet.

FSUK designated Safeguarding/Prevents officer will then conduct an investigation and, if necessary, consult the relevant agency.

Individuals do not need to give their consent for referral to the prevent team or co-ordinator.

If the local prevent team/co-ordinator decide the individual is vulnerable, then they will refer them to Channel.
A Channel panel will then decide if a referral is necessary. If it is then a tailored programme of support will be organised.
Individuals (or parents if the individual is under 19) must give consent to engaging in the channel programme.
Not every Prevent referral is a Channel referral.
Channel process will not be highlighted through the DBS.

At the point of referral to an external agency or closing the incident the spreadsheet is updated and a date of sign off agreed. Any evidence from the incident is kept in a secured file.

British values are key in helping us tackle terrorism. FSUK keep these at the heart of all we do.

What are British Values?

British values are defined as “democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance for those with different faiths and beliefs”; institutions are expected to encourage students to respect other people with particular regard to the protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010.

Staff should exemplify British Values through their personal behaviour and in interaction with students and colleagues.

Further information:

http://homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/counter-terrorism/prevent/prevent-strategy/

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/counter-terrorism/counter-terrorism-strategy/

http://www.preventforfeandtraining.org.uk/ There are lots of useful resources on this website