Prevent

At Smart Training & Recruitment, the safety and well-being of all our students, staff and partners are of the utmost importance.

To ensure that we are meeting our obligations and providing a safe and secure environment, we have explained what is Prevent, along with what Channel is and how they work.

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Prevent is about safeguarding people and communities from the threat of terrorism. Prevent is 1 of the four elements of CONTEST, the Government’s counter-terrorism strategy. It aims to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.

The Prevent strategy:

• Responds to the ideological challenge we face from terrorism and aspects of extremism and the threat we face from those who promote these views;
• Provides practical help to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure they are given appropriate advice and support; and
• Works with a wide range of sectors (including education, criminal justice, faith, charities, online and health) where we need to deal with risks of radicalisation.

Prevent covers all forms of terrorism and extremism and some aspects of non-violent extremism. The Home Office works with local authorities, a wide range of government departments, and community organisations to deliver the Prevent strategy. The police also play a significant role in Prevent, in much the same way as they do when taking a preventative approach to other crimes.

Prevent uses a range of measures to challenge extremism, including:

• Supporting people who are at risk of being drawn into terrorist or extremist activity through the Channel process, see the What is Channel section to find out more about this
• Working with and supporting community groups and social enterprise projects who provide services and support to vulnerable people
• Working with faith groups and institutions to assist them in providing support and guidance to people who may be vulnerable; and
• Supporting local schools, industry, and partner agencies through engagement, advice and training.

Channel provides support across the country to those vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism. The programme’s overall aim is early intervention and diverting people from the risk they may face.

Channel uses existing collaboration between partners to support individuals and protect them from being drawn into terrorism. Who delivers channel? The process is a multi-agency approach with a wide range of agencies and local partners working together to provide support for individuals. Coordinators are usually police officers, with the local authority chairing the multi-agency panel.

How does Channel work?

Channel works by partners jointly assessing the nature and the extent of the risk and, where necessary, providing an appropriate support package tailored to the individual’s needs.

The three key stages of Channel are:

• Identify individuals at risk of being drawn into terrorism;
• Assess the nature and extent of that risk; and
• Develop the most appropriate support plan for the individuals concerned.

Assessing the nature and extent of the risk

Where necessary, refer cases to a multi-agency panel for the development of the most appropriate support package to divert and support the individual at risk.

How do you identify those at risk?

Referrals come from those concerned about individuals who may be vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism.

Who makes the referrals?

Referrals can come from a wide range of individuals and partners and could include youth offending teams, social services, health, police, education and local communities.

Who sits on the multi-agency panel?

The panel is designed to work the same way as other multi-agency structures used to safeguard individuals at risk – from drugs, knife and gun crime, gangs etc. The local authority chaired the panel which consists of statutory partners and the Channel coordinator.

What kind of support is provided through the channel?

Examples of support could include mentoring, diversionary activities such as sports, and signposting to mainstream services such as education, employment or housing. Support is always tailored to the specific needs of the following individual assessment by the multi-agency panel.

ACT Policing has added two new animated 2-minute explainer films about Prevent to their ACT Early website and partners’ toolkit.

Watch the Reach out for help short film
Watch the How we help short film