Children’s services’ radicalisation approach to be reviewed

The Department for Education is seeking to commission a review of the ways in which children’s services are responding to radicalisation and extremism among young people.

Tender documents were published on 6 August seeking applicants to conduct research within 10 English local authorities, updating on a 2016 safeguarding and radicalisation evaluation, which found divergent views around the extent to which extremism presents a safeguarding risk.

The research will aim to gauge social workers’ views on how responses to extremism have developed, assess what useful sources of information and support exist, and highlight best practice to share across the sector.

The government’s Prevent counter-terrorism strategy is frequently and widely criticised for an excessive focus on the dangers of Islamic extremism, and the potential for this to reinforce negative stereotypes.

However, the documentation for the new study said the landscape had ‘developed in important ways’, and recognised newer forms of extremism, such as the ‘incel’ movement, cited in several attacks in North America and the ongoing threat from far-right terrorism.