Prevent strategy to face independent review

Security Minister Ben Wallace has challenged critics of the government’s Prevent strategy to produce ‘solid evidence’ after it was announced that the anti-radicalisation programme is to be independently reviewed.

Wallace, who announced the review in the House of Commons after ministers ceded to increasing pressure to address concerns over the impact of Prevent on communities, accused critics of using ‘distortion and spin’ against the initiative, and asked for ‘solid evidence of their allegations’.

Civil liberties and human rights organisations have consistently urged for an independent review of Prevent, campaigning against it on the ground that it fosters discrimination against people of Muslim faith or background and inhibits legitimate expression.

With the strategy providing a statutory duty for schools, NHS trusts, prisons and local authorities to report concerns about people who may be at risk of turning to extremism, Wallace said that the statistics prove that it does not target one community and has successfully diverted vulnerable individuals from being radicalised and in turn from becoming terrorists.

Wallace said: “I have decided that the time is now right to initiate a review of Prevent. Communities across the country have got behind the policy and are contributing to it because they want, as we do, their own young people to be protected from grooming and exploitation by terrorists.

“Over the last two years the Home Office has built on the solid work of Prevent by releasing annual statistics. They clearly show that Prevent is not about singling out any particular group or ideology but is similar to other forms of safeguarding carried out every day by social workers, teachers and police. I am proud we have helped divert hundreds of people away from posing a real threat and put them back on the path of living a fulfilling, law-abiding life.”

The move was revealed after the government accepted an amendment to the Counter Terrorism and Border Security Bill, which is currently passing through Parliament.