Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to clause 20 of the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019, whether a timetable has been agreed for the (a) application, (b) interview and (c) appointment process to appoint a reviewer for the Prevent programme in order to achieve the 18-month timeframe set by that statute.

The Government is committed to the Independent Review of Prevent and launched a full and open recruitment competition to appoint the next Independent Reviewer of Prevent on 27 April 2020. Applications closed on 22 June 2020. Interviews are due to take place in July. The successful candidate will be announced in due course.

We have included in the Counter Terrorism and Sentencing Bill a measure to remove the existing statutory deadline for the Review set out in the Counter Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019 while maintaining the legislative commitment to undertake it. This is to ensure that the new Reviewer has sufficient time to complete the Review. The Government aims for the Review to be completed by August 2021.