Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help schools in Tower Hamlets tackle radicalisation.

Tower Hamlets is one of 30 Prevent priority areas, identified through a prioritisation process which assesses information from police, local authorities and others. Each priority area receives funding for a Prevent coordinator, and is supported by the Home Office to develop delivery plans relating to Prevent objectives.

Local Prevent co-ordinators work with partners in their areas, including schools, for example by training frontline staff in tackling extremism and identifying people at risk. The local police also provide support.

The Department for Education also works with individual schools where concerns arise. Following recent reports of pupils from Bethnal Green Academy travelling to Syria, the Department is providing support to the school through the Regional Schools Commissioner, in addition to the support being provided by the local authority and police in particular.