1. Our commitment
The government Counter-terrorism and Security Act 2015, places a duty upon all education providers to have regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism. This Prevent Duty forms part of the wider governments CONTEST counter terrorism strategy:
- Prevent terrorism – stop people becoming terrorists
- Pursue terrorism – disrupt and stop terror attacks
- Protect against terrorism – strengthen UK protection
- Prepare to deal with terrorism – mitigate impact of attacks that can’t be stopped.
As a nation we continue to prioritise according to the threat posed to our national security; the allocation of resources will be proportionate to the threats we face. There has been an increase in far-right inspired terror attacks and lone acts of terror as opposed to mass organised terror activities, the government strategy now includes ways in which to identify risk of these instances.
The aim of the Prevent strategy is to reduce the threat to the UK from terrorism by stopping people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. The Prevent strategy has three specific strategic objectives:
- 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.
- Work with sectors and institutions where there are risks of radicalisation that we need to address.
This policy is shared with all employees upon commencing employment to include confirmation they have read and understood the content. Revisions are communicated to all as part of ongoing continued professional development, with all development activities related to application of the measures included within the policy
2. Objectives
Lifetime as a training provider have a responsibility to ensure:
- We have undertaken training in the Prevent Duty as identified by their leaders and managers
- To identify and support any concerns we have over learner vulnerabilities or indicators to being at risk of radicalisation
- We are all aware of when it is appropriate to refer concerns about learners or colleagues to the provider’s safeguarding officer
- To exemplify British values of “democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance for those with different faiths and beliefs” into our practice.
- Scope
This policy relates to all staff and learners, including those of our subcontracted provision. While it has been noted that Apprenticeship Training Providers do not fall into the FE Prevent guidance in Scotland, Lifetime will apply the same process for all learners.
4. Key contacts
Lead Designated Safeguarding Officer Michelle Kent - 0779 5486090
michelle.kent@lifetimetraining.co.uk
Safeguarding officer team - supportme@lifetimetraining.co.uk
UK: Report Extremist/Terrorism material https://www.gov.uk/report-terrorism
Somerset and Avon Prevent Coordinator
Cheri Fayers Cheri.FAYERS@education.gov.uk
Education concerns: https://report-extremism.education.gov.uk/
Scotland: PreventDeliveryUnit@scotland.pnn.police.uk
Anti-Terrorist Hotline: 0800 789 321
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Definitions
Radicalisation - the action or process of causing someone to adopt radical positions on political or social issues
Terrorism – an act of terror/violence based on a political objective, whether that means the politics of nationalism, ethnicity, religion, ideology or social class.
Extremism - an ideology that is far outside the mainstream attitudes of society, including vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs. This also includes calls for the death of members of the British armed forces.
6. Leadership & Governance
Prevent forms part of the safeguarding agenda which is featured as part of Learner Experience Committee meetings. Lifetime has a nominated Director leading the Prevent initiative, and the CEO and Quality Director are actively engaged within the Safeguarding and Prevent Agenda. It has been well documented within current literature, namely the Prevent Strategy and Keeping Children Safe in Education, that protecting people from being drawn into radicalisation should align with the current safeguards in place to protect learners from the risks of safeguarding issues. Prevent Duty is also embedded within IT, Social Media, Social Learning platform and Safeguarding policies.
A risk assessment is produced annually supported by the local FE/HE Prevent coordinator and reviewed periodically, in order to ensure Lifetime has highlighted any risk areas and are meeting the Prevent duty.
7. Staff Training
All staff are trained on the Vulnerabilities and Indicators of radicalisation, the Channel process and how the duty engages with requirements of their role, via certificated Home Office learning. Identifying risk at an early stage allows early intervention and is crucial to the Prevent Duty and Channel process being successful. Huddle contains further guidance on the Prevent duty and Educational material around Radicalisation and British values
There is periodic CPD and an ongoing awareness programme through the monthly Thrive newsletter and Journey of Lifetime activity
8. Engagement with External Partners
All employers will be made aware of Lifetime’s and their own duty by means of partnership managers and coach communication. The employer guide contains detail in relation to employer responsibility to learners and Lifetime, this is further explained din the Employer guide to Learner Welfare
Channels are in place to assist with meeting the Prevent Duty and avenues for raising concerns are established with Prevent coordinators nationwide.
9. Learner Safety, Engagement & Curriculum
The duty encompasses building learner resilience to the threat of radicalisation, challenging extremism and raising awareness of and demonstrating British values:
- Democracy
- Rule of Law
- Tolerance and understanding of different faiths
- Individual liberty
Opportunities to educate learners and promote the above values and ensure learners are aware of how to keep themselves safe from radicalisation are currently facilitated within the Apprenticeship:
- Mandatory Life Skills learning mandatory modules that all learners must work through.
- Curriculum resource indicates where British values are apparent to support embedding within workplace role and responsibilities at work.
- Virtual classrooms are available in larger sectors to assist learners that require more taught support in this area.
- All 16-18 learners have the opportunity to attend the ASN 3-month workshop programme to develop understanding of these areas
- Discussion with coach about topics learned and relevance to self
To ensure we monitor and act upon accessing of inappropriate content and comments, filtering systems are in place on distributed learner devices and our social media platforms, and we adhere to the Children’s Education setting provided by the ‘Zoom Platform’.
10. Referral Pathways
If a learner has concerns about themselves, or you have concerns about a learner being at risk of radicalisation, you should refer to Appendix 3 and 4 for the process for escalating any safeguarding concerns. Appendix 1 will support with identifying vulnerabilities and indicators of someone being at risk of radicalisation.
NB – should you feel your learner, yourself or any members of the public are in immediate danger report to the police immediately.
Once the Designated Safeguarding team has been informed, they will make a decision on whether the issue needs to be escalated to the local police Prevent Officer. The Designated Safeguarding team/staff member that is involved with the referral will then support the Channel process as seen fit by the local Channel panel. See Appendix 3 for the referral pathways. It should be noted that referral to the Channel process is not a criminal intervention.
It should be noted that a learner displaying one or a few of vulnerabilities and indicators does not mean the learner will necessarily be at risk of radicalisation, but it may do so. In all instances that concern you, you should report to the Designated Safeguarding Officer. The process for referral to a prevent coordinator involves risk assessing the learner’s level of engagement, intent and capability. If guidance is required, the safeguarding officer will discuss with a local FE Prevent coordinator.
11. Safeguarding Staff Members as a Result of Referral
While it is unlikely that the referrer would then be targeted, if someone received a threat or the police felt someone was under threat without them knowing, then there are risk assessments, warnings and safeguarding processes local police departments will apply as a matter of routine. The outcome might involve an investigation and arrests being made etc., such as markers on people’s mobile phone numbers or addresses, warnings to parties involved, or other measures.