Government unveils new plans to tackle radicalisation

The Home Secretary has announced a suite of measures designed to protect the public and young people from youth radicalisation.

The measures include new enforcement tools, extra police funding and improvements to Prevent.

The proportion of young people in counter-terrorism casework is increasing and the government has said it will create new youth diversion orders. These will be specifically designed for young people to better manage cases which require intervention beyond Prevent and will reduce the risk of further involvement with the criminal justice system.

Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, said: "National security is one of the government’s foundations and fundamental to our Plan for Change, which is why we are putting in record levels of funding to our security partners.

"For some time now, law enforcement and intelligence agencies have been warning about the rapid increase in youth radicalisation, driven in large part by online activity. Today we are setting out new powers to tackle this and making major improvements to the Prevent programme to recognise the complex range of threats we face.

"I am determined that we bring in the changes needed to move young people away from these dangerous ideologies and make the whole system more effective."

Evidence shows that while Islamist terrorism remains the primary threat, followed by extreme right-wing terrorism, the overall threat picture is changing to include a growing cohort of young people radicalised online who do not align with any particular ideology and instead have fixations with violence.

The Home Secretary has also outlined plans to strengthen Prevent to ensure that the programme keeps pace with the increasingly complex and evolving terrorist threat, stopping people from being drawn towards dangerous and extremist ideologies, carrying out acts of terrorism or supporting terrorism.

Measures will include an end-to-end review of Prevent thresholds, and updated policy and guidance, including on repeat referrals, to ensure they reflect the full range of threats we see today.

The interventions available to people supported by the Channel early intervention programme will be broadened and there will be a strategic policy review to identify and drive improvements in how individuals referred into Prevent who are neurodivergent or suffer from mental ill-health are supported and managed.

A new permanent Independent Prevent Commissioner will be recruited tasked with reviewing the programme’s effectiveness, identifying gaps and problems before they emerge.

Security minister, Dan Jarvis said: "There has been a serious emerging trend of increased youth radicalisation across the country, with the proportion of MI5 investigations into under-18s surging threefold in the last three years.

"Our first duty will always be to keep the public safe, and the measures we’ve set out today will help ensure the Prevent programme keeps pace with the threats we face and has the tools it needs to succeed."