The Government’s Prevent Strategy

What is Prevent?

Prevent is part of the Government’s counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST. Its aim is to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. Prevent will address all forms of terrorism but continue to prioritise according to current threat levels. It’s about minimising the risk of people supporting extremist ideologies which espouse violence and terrorism. As such Prevent is an early intervention tool most commonly in the form of education, dialogue and mentoring, aiming to reduce the likelihood of terrorist or other violent actions in the future.

Prevent is just one of four elements which make up the Government’s Counter Terrorism Strategy comprising of four key elements:

Pursue: to stop terrorist attacks
Protect: to strengthen our physical infra-structure against a terrorist attack, and
Prepare: to mitigate the impact of a terrorist attack

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prevent: to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.

Prevent can be seen as separate from the other three elements in that it operates in the ‘non-criminal’ space; a prevention tool to reduce the numbers of people who may consider criminal acts. In an educational context Prevent is a safeguarding issue for schools aimed at supporting and protecting children and young people who are vulnerable and at risk of being radicalised. Prevent is about ensuring that they are diverted away before any crime is committed and described as a long term solution to the current threat of extremism. Within the overall framework the new Prevent strategy will specifically:

• respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism and the threat we face from those who promote it;

• prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure that they are given appropriate advice and support; and

• work with sectors and institutions where there are risks of radicalisation which we need to address.

These areas of work are outlined in detail in The Prevent Strategy para 3.21 on page 7.

Support for Schools

Bradford Council's Prevent Team supports schools and education settings through the provision of :

Introduction to Prevent (previously known as WRAP) for primary and secondary schools, to ensure that key members of school staff including governors have a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities
Introduction to Prevent training for Designated Safeguarding Leads enabling them to deliver Prevent training in their own settings.
Regular DSL briefings and updates.
Providing a Prevent ‘Self Assessment Questionnaire’ and Toolkit for schools to achieve Prevent Champion status.
Guidance and advice to address Prevent related issues across the curriculum, including 'Holding Difficulat Conversations' training for staff and critical thinking workshops for pupils.
A range of guidance documents on the Prevent Strategy.
DfE funded projects for schools.

Reporting concerns:

If you have a safeguarding concern it is essential you use the link below to access the Prevent Referral Form. The form also offers guidance with contact numbers for support.

Referral form

Notice, Check, Share Guidance