Prevent Duty Training: What Do I Need to Know?

Jess Miller

January 19, 2024

5 min read

Who Needs Prevent Duty Training?

The Prevent duty guidance outlines how frontline staff who engage with the public can contribute to preventing terrorism in England, Wales and Scotland. Specified authorities such as education, health, local authorities, police and criminal justice agencies must understand this guidance and ensure that all staff receive appropriate training to fulfil their duties.

According to the guidance, the objectives of Prevent are to:

Tackle the ideological causes of terrorism.
Intervene early to support people who may be susceptible to radicalisation.
Enable people who have already engaged in terrorism to disengage and rehabilitate.

The exact part that each person has to play in preventing terrorism in their sector will depend greatly on the nature of their role and the specific responsibilities placed on them. For example, those in leadership and management positions are responsible for ensuring their employees receive appropriate Prevent training. They must take a lead role in embedding the guidance in everyday practice.

In summary, all frontline staff should be trained to:

Understand key terms including ‘radicalisation’, ‘terrorism’ and ‘extremism’.
Know what constitutes radicalisation and understand how a person may become radicalised.
Know what the threat and risk of terrorism are in England, Wales and Scotland, including which extremist groups pose the greatest threat.
Respond to concerns appropriately and know how to make referrals, share information and work collaboratively with other agencies and organisations.
Understand how the Channel programme works and how their role may support this.
Know the factors which can make a person more susceptible to radicalisation and how to help such individuals disengage.
Know how to reduce permissive environments in their sector so that terrorist cannot use their equipment or facilities as a means to spread extremist ideologies.

All specified authorities with a Prevent duty need to ensure they provide appropriate training for staff involved in the implementation of this duty, and be able to show compliance with this requirement.

Want to Learn More?

Our Prevent Duty Training will help you recognise signs that an individual may be susceptible to, or be experiencing, radicalisation or engaging with extremist ideologies. It also covers how to respond to your concerns and how Prevent and the Channel programme work in practice.

Prevent Responsibilities and Training Required by Sector

These lists are indicative of Prevent safeguarding duties. They are not exhaustive and it is important to check with the Prevent safeguarding specialist in your field or organisation to ensure you are aware of all of your safeguarding duties.

Detailed guidance can be found here.

Education

Educators, through their relationships with young people and their frequent interactions with them, are well-placed to recognise when someone may be susceptible to becoming radicalised.

All staff working in the education sector must receive Prevent duty training. They should also be familiar with other safeguarding guidance, including ‘Working together to safeguard children‘ and ‘Keeping children safe in education‘.

Expectations of all education providers include:

Having a designated senior person who is responsible for the management of Prevent, including ensuring staff receive appropriate training to fulfil their safeguarding duties.
Working effectively with other agencies and organisations, such as the local authority and police, to ensure risk assessments and referrals are carried out effectively and information is shared appropriately.
Having policies and procedures in place to allow for the identification of students who may be susceptible to radicalisation.
Preventing radicalisation and extremist ideologies by embedding British values into the curriculum (schools and further education settings).
Allowing students to explore controversial topics and discuss them in a safe and well-managed environment.
Further and Higher education settings must appreciate freedom of speech for students and the role of academic freedom while still discouraging engagement with terrorist ideologies.
Ensuring there is a robust IT policy which prevents students from accessing extremist material, such as through the use of internet search filters.
Having policies and procedures in place to ensure external speakers or staff linked to extra curricular activities have been risk assessed and can effectively safeguard the young people they interact with.
Having robust safeguarding policies and procedures in place to identify students who may be at risk of radicalisation, as well as to assess the risks associated with letting facilities to community and other groups.
Working with partners and the local authority’s risk assessment to determine the potential risk of individuals being drawn into terrorism in their local area, and completing their own risk assessment.
Knowing when it is appropriate to make a referral to Channel or children’s services, or carry out early interventions (the DSL is responsible for this).