Prevent duty guidance: Guidance for specified authorities in England and Wales
The Prevent duty guidance, applicable to Educational and early years providers in England and Wales, has undergone a comprehensive update in response to recommendations from the Independent Review of Prevent in 2022. This revision aims to simplify the guidance by consolidating it into a single document for all education settings. While striving for consistency in core expectations, it also acknowledges variations between different educational phases.
Importantly, this update does not introduce new legal obligations or additional responsibilities for provisions and early years providers. Instead, it reinforces the existing duty, aligning it with broader safeguarding responsibilities outlined in Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2023.
A transition period is expected during the autumn term, and the revised guidance is not anticipated to take effect until at least December 31 2023. This transition period allows provisions to adapt and ensure compliance with the updated guidance while maintaining their ongoing commitment to safeguarding and the Prevent duty.
What’s changed…
Ideological causes of terrorism
The updated Prevent guidance emphasises tackling the ideological causes of terrorism as its primary objective. It recommends educational settings incorporate this focus into all Prevent-related activities. Additionally, a new theme, 'Reducing Permissive Environments,' is introduced, which includes building resilience through the curriculum and implementing effective IT and visiting speaker policies to counteract radicalising influences in educational and early years settings.
Updated terminology
The updated guidance aligns with current best practices and official terminology, specifying its focus on non-violent extremism related to terrorism or potential terrorism involvement.
Training
Educational institutions must assess the appropriate staff members for Prevent training, taking into account local terrorism and extremism risk profiles. Training frequency and content should be tailored to roles, with the designated Prevent leads and Safeguarding team members receiving more comprehensive training, including extremist and terrorist ideology knowledge, to support informed referrals when necessary.
Managing risk
The risk and threat landscape has been updated in line with the counter-terrorism strategy (CONTEST) 2023. The risk and threat picture is broader than that of 2015. However, Islamist Extremism remains the primary current concern in the UK. Institutions are advised to review and adjust their risk assessments to accurately reflect local risks and be proportionate to their size and provision.
Information sharing
The updated guidance stresses the importance of treating information sharing on Prevent like wider safeguarding efforts. It introduces the National Referral Form for consistency in Prevent referrals across local authorities. Settings should maintain existing processes for sharing information on radicalisation. Transferring Prevent concerns securely when students change settings aligns with existing KCSIE expectations.
Will there be changes to the inspection process?
There are no changes to the Ofsted Inspection Framework or Independent School Standards regarding Prevent, but the guidance will be used to better support inspection of Prevent delivery in education settings.
What actions do you need to take?
We recommend those who are responsible for the implementation and oversight of Prevent responsibilities read the updated and refreshed Prevent duty guidance. You may wish to update your Prevent risk assessment and action plan (if applicable) or safeguarding policy.
Further resources:
LGFL - https://lgfl.net/safeguarding/kcsie/web-filtering
GOV.UK - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/prevent-duty-training
COUNTER EXTREAMISM - https://counterextremism.lgfl.org.uk/
LGFL LEARNING - https://lgfl.net/learning-resources/grid
EDUCATE AGAINST HATE -https://www.educateagainsthate.com/blog/posts/how-to-speak-about-the-news-ongoing-conflicts-and-hold-discussions-on-difficult-topics-with-students/
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