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550,000 public sector staff trained in counter-terror strategy

The Home Office has confirmed that 550,000 frontline public sector workers have been trained in its counter-terrorism Prevent programme, as part of its strategy to identify extremism. Each trainee has completed a series of online or classroom exercises to comply with a statutory Prevent duty that a range of public authorities were compelled to take part in. The scheme is one of the biggest counter-terror awareness programmes ever undertaken by the UK government and involved a range of public-facing workers including college lecturers, youth and social workers, probation officers and childcare providers. However, some have opposed the strategy, claiming it is divisive and risks creating a ‘climate of suspicion’. Jonathan Russell, head of policy at the Quilliam Foundation, a counter-extremism think tank, said: “The training is currently inadequate. While a lot of people may have been trained, and that is certainly better than no training, we can’t say that all the people who have been trained are perfectly suited to doing this job now. “A lot of people in the past have had a gut feeling that something might be off, and that someone might be on the pathway towards extremism but didn’t quite know what to do. There were an awful lot of spurious calls to the police.” “Anecdotally, my sense from teachers is that they understand that it’s part of their general safeguarding remit, and they don’t resent that. Initially there was a bit of resentment, saying ‘I’m not a spook, this isn’t my job’. “The anecdotal response from teachers at the moment is: “Yeah, I know it’s my job to do this, but I’m not really confident in doing it, and the training was patronising and unengaging. Having looked at some of the training products myself, they’re certainly not as good as the ones available that NGOs produce or the private sector has produced to do the same sort of things.  “It’s delivered free. I would have thought the government would have compromised on quality to keep costs down, because they have to deliver it so widely.” However, a spokesman for the Home Office spokesman countered: “We have seen all too tragically the devastating impact radicalisation can have on individuals, families and our communities. Protecting those who are vulnerable and at risk is a job for all of us. "Prevent is working and we now have more than 550,000 frontline public sector workers trained to recognise the signs of radicalisation so that they know what steps to take.”

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