Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 13 March (HL Deb, col 1505), how they intend to measure the progress of the initiative by British-based Islamic leaders "to dispel the poisonous interpretation of Islam peddled by al-Qaeda and Daesh".

The Prevent Programme is fundamentally about safeguarding and supporting vulnerable individuals to stop them from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. Prevent safeguards people who are vulnerable to radicalisation in a similar way to safeguarding processes designed to protect people from gangs, drug abuse, and physical and sexual abuse. It requires a full-spectrum approach with Government working with the police, statutory partners, the private sector and communities. Currently the greatest threat comes from terrorist recruiters inspired by Daesh. Our Prevent programme will necessarily reflect this by prioritising support for vulnerable British Muslims, and working in partnership with civil society groups to tackle this problem.

Prevent works best when delivered in partnership with our communities, who are working hard to uphold the security of this country, prevent radicalisation and make clear that the actions of Daesh and al-Qaeda are profoundly un-Islamic. 169 community based projects were delivered in 2016/17 reaching over 53,000 participants. 44% of these projects were delivered in schools, aimed at increasing young people’s resilience to terrorist and extremist ideologies. We also support community-based initiatives that challenge Daesh’s core communications and provide credible counter narratives.

In 2015/16, 36% of those receiving support on Channel was as a result of referrals from the education sector. Of individuals supported by Channel in 2015/16 over 70 per cent were aged 20 years or under and 85 per cent were male. Of those that received Channel support in 2015/16, 83 per cent left with no further CT concerns. Prevent has made a significant impact in preventing people being drawn into terrorism.