1. Could you please provide a list/any details of all projects/work undertaken as part of the Council’s Prevent programme undertaken since May 2020.
2. Can you please provide information on the methods of these projects (going into schools, reviewing curricula) and the aim of these projects.
3. Could this information be broken down by project.
Under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act (2015, updated 2018) Devon County Council has a statutory responsibility to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism. It discharges this Duty in terms of its responsibilities as a local authority and as part of the Devon and Torbay Prevent Partnership, which discharges work on behalf of all statutory partners subject to the Prevent Duty within Devon and Torbay. Devon is a non funded area so does not receive dedicated resource or funding to support the delivery of Prevent.
Much of the work undertaken within the Council is discharged through the Prevent Partnership. Work undertaken since May 2020 includes:
Workforce Development
Adoption and implementation of a Partnership-wide Prevent Workforce Development Strategy. This work is ongoing and includes the development and launch of a Prevent eLearning package for all Council staff, and specialist learning provisions for staff with additional responsibilities in relation to safeguarding and Prevent. The eLearning package was developed with the objective of improving awareness and knowledge of Prevent within the workforce and confidence in reporting concerns. It was developed through consultation with Prevent and Workforce Development specialists and was rolled out in Spring 2021.
Communications
Bi-annual information briefings are developed by the Partnership with the aim of providing key information about Prevent, local delivery, workforce development opportunities and guidance on identifying and reporting concerns. These are widely shared with staff within all Prevent partner organisations, including the Council.
The Safer Devon Partnership, of which the Council is a core member, develops monthly public social media comms schedules which include comms relating to radicalisation. These are shared via partner social media channels, including Devon County Council, as appropriate.
A virtual exploitation awareness session, including input around Prevent and radicalisation, was delivered in February by the Safer Devon Partnership to Devon County Council staff and partner agencies. The aim of the event was to raise awareness of the impact of COVID-19 on risk and vulnerability to exploitation and improve knowledge and confidence of how to report concerns.
Prevent and education
The Prevent Partnership has a dedicated Prevent and Education Subgroup which carries out work to increase the awareness and knowledge of Prevent within education settings and the reporting of Prevent concerns; support Prevent delivery within education settings; and support communications with parents, carers and young people. Specific work carried out by this group to date is as follows:
- The development of a Prevent briefing for educators. The aim of this briefing was to provide information about trends in risk and vulnerability in relation to Prevent; guidance about making Prevent referrals; and guidance on embedding Prevent within the curriculum in an age appropriate way, including a list of quality-assured resources that can assist education partners in including Prevent within the curriculum and CPD provisions.
- Informing work carried out by Babcock LDP and the Devon Education Advisory Group to provide specialist input around Prevent to school leaders and safeguarding leads and support the integration of Prevent within the curriculum.
4. Has the Prevent programme examined what students are being taught in school?
See response to question 5 below.
5. Particularly in relation to colonialism, racism, white supremacism, and Black Lives Matter.
The Prevent Partnership has not, to date, sought to examine what students are being taught in school. Instead it has sought to provide guidance on how schools can integrate learning about Prevent, extremism and related areas within the curriculum in an age appropriate manner.
During the last few months schools have contacted our partners for guidance around embedding input around hate crime in the curriculum and in communications to students. This is an area that the wider system is actively looking at in order to identify how best to support schools. The Council, through the Prevent Partnership, will inform this work as appropriate.
6. Have any referrals to the police or other authorities been made as a result?
We receive regular data summaries about the number of Prevent referrals made by sector, including education. However, due to the data we currently have access to, at this point in time it is not possible to determine the direct impact of the work outlined above on referral figures.
In some parts of the country, the local authority has case management responsibility for Prevent data. However, in Devon case management is undertaken by the Police, therefore Devon County Council does not hold this information, and we suggest contacting Devon and Cornwall Police.