Prevent and Safeguarding

Safeguarding is an extremely important resource when it comes to the protection of people who may be especially vulnerable or at risk of harm. Safeguarding refers to all action taken to promote the welfare of young people and adults to protect them from harm. With this in mind, having the correct training in safeguarding procedures is an extremely valuable skill for

all employees, as it protects both staff and customers alike.

Protecting a person’s health, wellbeing and their human rights enables them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect. When appropriate safeguarding measures are put in place this creates a safe and welcoming environment where everyone is respected and valued regardless of race, age, gender or sexual orientation.

Four of the main reasons why safeguarding is so important are:

Abuse, harassment and harm can happen to anyone. It’s not always visible, so it’s important to the signs in order to stop harm from progressing
Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. We all have a duty of care to one another, so when harm is identified we all have a duty to do something about it
Understanding and applying safeguarding procedures helps to makes an organisation trustworthy and safe
When safeguarding is well understood and applied within an organisation, people who are vulnerable and have nowhere else to turn are protected and feel they have someone to turn to

Knowing what to look for is vital to the early identification of abuse and neglect. When staff are trained in safeguarding, they become aware of indicators of abuse and neglect, including exploitation, so that they are able to identify cases of people who may be in need of help or protection When people at risk receive the help they need at the right time, it enables risks to be addressed and prevents issues from escalating further.

The aim of the Prevent strategy is to reduce the threat to the UK from terrorism by stopping people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. To prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure that they are given appropriate advice and support.

Intelligence indicates that a terrorist attack in our country is ‘highly likely’. Experience tells us that the

• threat comes not just from foreign nationals but also from terrorists born and bred in Britain. It is
• therefore vital that our counter-terrorism strategy contains a plan to prevent radicalisation and stop
• would-be terrorists from committing mass murder. Osama bin Laden may be dead, but the threat from Al Qa’ida inspired terrorism is not.

The Prevent strategy, published by the Government in 2011, is part of our overall counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST. The aim of the Prevent strategy is to reduce the threat to the UK from terrorism by stopping people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. In the Act this has simply been expressed as the need to “prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”.

The 2011 Prevent strategy has three specific strategic objectives:

• respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism and the threat we face from those who promote it
• prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure that they are given appropriate advice and support
• work with sectors and institutions where there are risks of radicalisation that we need to address.

In complying with the duty all specified authorities, as a starting point, should demonstrate an awareness and understanding of the risk of radicalisation in their area, institution or body. This risk will vary greatly and can change rapidly; but no area, institution or body is risk free. Whilst the type and scale of activity that will address the risk will vary, all specified authorities will need to give due consideration to it.

There are three themes throughout the sector-specific guidance, effective leadership, working in partnership and appropriate capabilities.

Leadership

For all specified authorities, we expect that those in leadership positions:

• estalish or use existing mechanisms for understanding the risk of radicalisation
• ensure staff understand the risk and build the capabilities to deal with it
• communicate and promote the importance of the duty; and
• ensure staff implement the duty effectively.

Working in partnership

Prevent work depends on effective partnership. To demonstrate effective compliance with the duty, specified authorities must demonstrate evidence of productive co-operation, in particular with local Prevent co-ordinators, the police and local authorities, and co-ordination through existing multi-agency forums, for example Community Safety Partnerships.

Capabilities

• Frontline staff who engage with the public should understand what radicalisation means and why people may be vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism as a consequence of it. They need to be aware of what we mean by the term “extremism” and the relationship between extremism and terrorism (see section B, above).
• Staff need to know what measures are available to prevent people from becoming drawn into terrorism and how to challenge the extremist ideology that can be associated with it. They need to understand how to obtain support for people who may be being exploited by radicalising influences.
• All specified authorities subject to the duty will need to ensure they provide appropriate training for staff involved in the implementation of this duty. Such training is now widely available.