Prevent

What is Prevent?

Prevent is a safeguarding programme set up by the government to protect children and adults who might be exposed to radical views, such as the support of extremist ideas or terrorism.

It aims to prevent people from becoming terrorists by supporting children and adults. Anyone can be influenced or exploited by extremist groups.

It strives to tackle all forms of terrorism and threats to national security.

Walsall context:

The Prevent Coordinator for Walsall Borough is Niall Markham. His role is to provide support to all partner agencies across all key stages, delivering Prevent activity to increase people’s resilience to terrorism. Niall also takes responsibility to lead on engagement with all statutory bodies.

One of the main purposes of the role is to identify vulnerabilities and risk, deliver training, capacity build and maintain a network of contacts within the local area to advance Prevent activity.

The main job purpose is as follows:

Responsible for the implementation of the Prevent Duty locally, as directed within the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act.
To coordinate all Prevent activity on behalf of Walsall Local Authority.
To promote Prevent across both statutory and non-statutory partners.
To develop, maintain and drive the delivery of a Prevent Delivery Plan, in collaboration with relevant statutory partners.
To ensure strong governance arrangements are in place to oversee the work at a local level and maintain strong links with the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism (OSCT).
Ensure all monitoring and compliance requirements are met in full both locally and with OSCT.
To liaise with OSCT and other Prevent personnel on a local, regional and national basis.
To provide a local connection to the local and regional Police CTU.
To deliver WRAP and associated training, as required, and support compliance.

Spotting the signs of radicalisation:

Radicalisation can be really difficult to spot. Signs that may indicate a child is being radicalised include:

- isolating themselves from family and friends
- talking as if from a scripted speech
- unwillingness or inability to discuss their views
- a sudden disrespectful attitude towards others
- increased levels of anger
- increased secretiveness, especially around internet use.

Children who are at risk of radicalisation may have low self-esteem, or be victims of bullying or discrimination. Extremists might target them and tell them they can be part of something special, later brainwashing them into cutting themselves off from their friends and family.

However, these signs don’t necessarily mean a child is being radicalised – it may be normal teenage behaviour or a sign that something else is wrong.

How to talk to children and young people about radicalisation:

It is important to talk to children and young people about radicalisation.

How to make a Prevent referral in respect of children:

Referrals for over 18: CTU_gateway@west-midlands.pnn.police.uk

Referrals for under 18: MASH@walsall.gov.uk and CTU_gateway@west-midlands.pnn.police.uk

What is Channel Panel?

If the referral progresses and it is assessed that there is a genuine risk of radicalisation, the case is considered by a multi-agency ‘Channel panel’ of professionals who collectively assess the case and decide on a tailored package of support that can be offered to the person. The Channel panel is chaired by the local authority and can include a variety of partners such as the police, children’s services, social services, education professionals and mental health care professionals.

If a Channel intervention is required, a tailored support package will be offered. This could include mentoring, theological guidance, education, and careers assistance to those assessed as being at risk of radicalisation and requiring support.

Channel is voluntary and people who are referred to Prevent must give consent (via a parent or guardian if they are underage) before they can be given support. If a person does not engage with Channel or decides not to continue with the process for any reason, alternative forms of support may be available from the local authority or other providers. Any risks are then carefully managed by the police.

Training:

For training in respect of Prevent, please contact Niall Markham : niall.markham@walsall.gov.uk to arrange ‘face to face Prevent training.

Or access the government website – Prevent duty training: Learn how to support people susceptible to radicalisation | Prevent duty training (support-people-vulnerable-to-radicalisation.service.gov.uk)

Prevent e-Learning Training Service – Onboarding Instructions

Everyone accessing the training must start the training from the start page, or from the course listings page (which is also the sharing link). If someone starts any course beyond this point, they will not go through the onboarding to receive a reference number. This means that the course will not function correctly, and they will be unable to obtain a certificate at the conclusion of the course.

Your unique course reference number is valid for 3 days (72 hours) in which you can access or amend your certificate or complete your training, after which time your reference number will expire and you will need to start again.

The certificate is in PDF format and will open in a new tab when you click on the icon on completion of the course. From there, you need to save or print the certificate for your records. If you do not save the certificate and the reference number expires, you will need to start the course again to obtain a new certificate as we do not store these.