Select committee criticises government counter-extremism programme

A key government counter-extremism programme has “stigmatised and alienated” those it is meant to engage and also tainted many positive community cohesion projects, a cross-party committee of MPs has warned.

The Prevent programme’s aim is to stop people becoming terrorists and reduce support for violent extremists.

The Communities and Local Government committee also warned that the government’s strategy to limit the development of violent extremism in the UK “sits poorly” within a counter-terrorism strategy.

Committee chair Dr Phyllis Starkey said: “We agree that a targeted strategy must address the contemporary al-Qaeda-inspired terrorist threat, but we do not believe a government department charged with promoting cohesive communities should take a leading role in this counter-terrorism initiative.

“Much of the positive work undertaken by the DCLG – to promote better community cohesion and to curb social exclusion – has been tainted by association with the counter-terrorism agenda. Any decision to widen the Prevent programme would only make this problem worse.”

Dr Starkey said a new approach should be taken, with all elements currently within Prevent that have a clear crime prevention role brought under the Home Office’s remit.

The DCLG should retain responsibility for delivering an entirely separate programme to tackle the underlying factors that foster all forms of extremist violence and communal hatred, she added.

The committee called on the government, amongst other things, to:

• Apply a more risk-based approach to tackling all kinds of extremism
• Revisit a recommendation made by the Commission on Integration and Cohesion for a central ‘Rebuttal Unit’ to help local authorities tackle extremist myths with accurate facts
• Strengthen information sharing between local partners to ensure local authorities have vital information required to decide which organisations should be funded under the Prevent programme
• Provide more training and support to frontline workers such as council staff, police, teachers and youth workers, and
• Make available a proportion of funding currently provided through Prevent specifically to projects aimed at encouraging direct participation in democratic means of debate.

Dr Starkey warned that many witnesses that appeared before the committee had made plain they believe Prevent had been used to ‘spy’ on Muslim communities. “The misuse of terms such as ‘intelligence gathering’ amongst Prevent partners has clearly discredited the programme and fed distrust,” she said.