Bracknell Forest
Prevent Strategy and Action Plan
2020 – 2023
1. Introduction
1.1. Bracknell Forest is a low demand and low risk area regarding the threat of active terrorism and continues to be designated as a Tier 3, non-priority area in the latest Counter-Terrorism Local Profile (CTPL, 2019). Bracknell Forest also takes pride in having a cohesive community despite having grown in diversity in recent years. In addition, our local authority and its partners have a strong record of working together on the Prevent agenda since the launch of government guidance, with the original board being established in 2012.
1.2. Our new Strategy and 3-year Action Plan has been produced considering the progress we have made in implementing our previous Prevent strategy, combined with this revised duty and changing local, national and global landscape.
1.3 It is also the product of a multi-agency forum – the Bracknell Forest Prevent Steering Group. It is a partnership document supported by all the specified authorities within Bracknell Forest and has been approved by the Community Safety Partnership It aims to bring all Prevent work together into one place to ensure a strategic and co-ordinated approach which maximises the use of available resources in tackling the issue.
1.4 It is based on the following principles:
· Prevent is everyone’s business and therefore awareness will be mandatory for all specified authorities, including their commissioned services
· Actions taken will always be proportionate to the risk identified for Bracknell Forest
· Bracknell Forest specified authorities will work effectively together through the Prevent Steering Group to deliver the Action Plan, with local delivery arrangements in place where appropriate and proportionate
· Prevent is part of the wider safeguarding agenda and thus will focus on providing support and re-direction to vulnerable individuals at risk of being drawn into terrorism from an early stage
· The Prevent programme must not involve any covert activity against individuals or communities
1.5 The rights of individuals will be protected when sharing personal information between specified authorities. When necessary to do so, we will ensure this follows relevant legislation as well as following guidance set out in the Community Safety Partnership’s Information-Sharing Protocol 2020.
2. Legislative Context
UK Counter-Terrorism Strategy 2011 (updated in 2013 and 2018)
2.1. The UK government has a Counter-Terrorism Strategy (CONTEST) in place which aims to ‘to reduce the risk to the UK and its interests overseas from terrorism so that people can go about their lives freely and with confidence’. CONTEST is split into four work-streams that are known within the counter-terrorism community as the 'four Ps': Prevent, Pursue, Protect, and Prepare. It aims to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.
2.2. The Prevent strand of this strategy has three key objectives:
· Respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism and the threat that we face from those who promote it
· Prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure they are given appropriate advice and support
· Work with sectors and institutions where there are risks of radicalisation which we need to address
2.3. The full Strategy can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/counter-terrorism-strategy-contest-2018
Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015
2.4. Section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 (the Act) places a duty on certain bodies (“specified authorities” listed in Schedule 6 to the Act) in the exercise of their function, to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.
2.5. This Act was updated December 2019 and it introduced a new duty for local authorities to provide support for vulnerable people from being drawn into terrorism. In England and Wales, this is done through Channel Panels. More information on the Channel Duty is available here:
2.6. Home Office guidance on this duty states that for all specified authorities, those in leadership positions are expected to:
· Establish 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
· Ensure staff implement the Duty effectively
3. Channel Duty Compliance in Bracknell Forest
3.1. The Government’s Channel intervention operates in a pre-criminal space, providing support and re-direction to vulnerable individuals at risk of being groomed into terrorist activities before any crimes are committed. Radicalisation could be comparable to other forms of harm and abuse. We therefore consider it a safeguarding issue which needs to be thought of alongside the wider safeguarding agenda.
3.2. Whilst each specified authority has this new Duty, the guidance does not expect organisations and institutions to tackle the issue alone. It clearly states that Prevent work depends on effective partnership-working and expects co-ordination of this activity through a multi-agency forum.
3.3. Bracknell Forest has an established Channel Panel which is compliant with the new Duty. The Bracknell Forest Channel Panel has monthly meetings scheduled throughout the year. In addition, it meets twice a year to ensure the partnership structure is maintained and to discuss and share good practice and learning.
3.4. Current membership of the Channel Panel is shown in the table below:
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Bracknell Forest Council
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Community Safety Team |
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Youth Offending Service |
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Organisational Development |
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Bracknell Forest Safeguarding Board |
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Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub |
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Police |
Counter-Terrorism Policing South East |
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Thames Valley Police – Bracknell and Wokingham Local Police Area |
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Health |
Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust |
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Clinical Commissioning Group |
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Community Mental Health Team |
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Probation |
National Probation Service |
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Thames Valley Community Rehabilitation Company |
4. Bracknell Forest Context
4.1. Bracknell Forest lies 28 miles west of London, at the heart of the Thames Valley and within the county of Berkshire. The borough’s population is 118,025 (mid-2014 estimates, based on Census 2011) and the economy is of above average size and productivity compared to the county and nationally.
4.2. Bracknell Forest has 31 primary phase schools, 6 secondary schools, 1 SEND (special educational needs and disability) and 1 Pupil Referral Unit. Overall, results are consistently in line with or above the national averages.
4.3. The 2011 Census showed that 84.9% of the population was ‘white British’ and 15.1% of the population was Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) and ‘white other’. The proportion of school pupils from BME groups has increased steadily from 10.8% in 2005 to 19.5% in 2015. 11.3% of pupils in Bracknell Forest schools have English as an Additional Language (EAL). There are 84 known first languages other than English spoken in our schools, although many of these in very small numbers. Bracknell has continued to grow and diversify since then.
4.4. In the last BFC Resident Survey conducted in 2017:
· 96% of respondents said that people from different backgrounds got on well together
· 90% of respondents were satisfied with the area as a place to live - up from 87% in 2014 (only 4% were dissatisfied)
· 68% of people were satisfied with the way the council runs things - an increase of 18% since 2009 (only 10% were dissatisfied)
5. Local Profile
5.1. The Bracknell Forest Counter-Terrorism Local Profile (CTLP) which is a restricted document produced by the CTPSE (Counter-Terrorism Policing South East, informs our awareness and understanding of the risk held locally.
5.2. The South-East of England has several identified potential risk areas and, while not specific to Bracknell, it is helpful for all local authorities to be aware. These include:
· Islamist extremism (including those within the prison estate)
· Syrian returnees (those returning from Syria who may be returning to the UK to radicalise other people for their cause)
· Al-Muhajiroun (a militant jihadist movement in the UK)
· Aspirant travellers (those wishing to travel to join extremist movements abroad)
· Anti-Daesh fighters (Daesh is also known as IS, ISIL and ISIS)
· Animal Rights Extremism
· Libyan Extremism
· Lone actors
5.3. In 2018/19, referrals for right wing terrorist behaviour outnumbered those for Islamist referrals in all of Berkshire (CTLP, 2019)
5.4. International terrorism and home-grown terrorist have meant an increased role for policing in recent years. This has led to some in our communities feeling uncomfortable with a sense of being under scrutiny. The perception from some is that there is a focus on Muslim communities rather than on the very small numbers that support an extremist ideology. It is essential that Prevent work in Bracknell Forest does not stereotype communities and takes measures to counter this. It is important to have and maintain communication across communities and to make this work accountable to people within them. This is particularly true given that the biggest threat in terms of extremism in Bracknell Forest appears to be that of far-right extremism (CTPL, 2019).
6. Governance and Monitoring
6.1. This Strategy and Action Plan has been developed and will be delivered by the Bracknell Forest Prevent Steering Group. This is a multi-agency partnership group currently comprising representatives from the following agencies.
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Bracknell Forest Council |
Lead Member for Culture, Corporate Services and Public Protection |
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Head of Community Safety |
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BFC Prevent Lead |
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Youth Offending Service |
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Community Cohesion and Engagement Partnership |
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Organisational Development |
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Bracknell Forest Safeguarding Board representative |
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Police |
Counter-Terrorism Policing South East |
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Thames Valley Police – Bracknell and Wokingham LPA Prevent Lead/representative |
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Health |
Bracknell and Ascot Clinical Commissioning Group |
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Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust |
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Probation |
National Probation Service |
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Thames Valley Community Rehabilitation Company |
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Bracknell and Wokingham College |
Prevent/Safeguarding Lead |
6.2. Progress against implementation of the action plan will be monitored by the Prevent Steering Group with any issues of concern being escalated to the Bracknell Forest Community Safety Partnership.
6.3. The Bracknell Forest Community Safety Partnership provides the direct governance for the Prevent Steering Group. However, Prevent is a safeguarding issue and therefore the Prevent Steering Group also has a line of accountability to the Bracknell Forest Safeguarding Board, allowing those members to have reassurance of the ongoing work as well as being able to input to the further development of the Prevent work.
7. Resourcing
Co-ordination of the work will be carried out by the BFC Community Safety Team through the Prevent Steering Group. Partners will be expected to resource their responsibilities as outlined in the action plan.
8. Prevent Awareness
Bracknell Forest Prevent Learning and Development Framework
9. Educational Institutions
9.1. Our schools, colleges and childcare providers play an important role in ensuring the safeguarding of our young people from the risk of being drawn into terrorism. We are committed to supporting our schools, colleges, educational and childcare providers with their responsibility to embed the Prevent agenda, to provide safe places in which children and young people can discuss controversial issues and be given the knowledge and confidence to challenge extremist beliefs and ideologies.
10. Safety Online
10.1 The great features of the internet including ease of access, lack of regulation, vast potential audiences and fast flow of information have been abused and used to the advantage of groups committed to terrorising communities to achieve their goals. Extremist propaganda is now widely available, particularly online, and can have a direct impact on radicalising those vulnerable individuals at risk. Building the resilience of children and young people to develop their critical thinking to challenge extremist narrative is a priority.
11. Interdependencies with Other Work
11.1. Prevent work in Bracknell Forest cross cuts across a number of other strategies, plans and programmes of local activity including the following:
· Bracknell Forest Safeguarding Board https://bracknellforestsafeguarding.org.uk/
· Community Cohesion and Engagement Partnership https://www.bracknell-forest.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/strategies-plans-and-policies/
· Bracknell Forest Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub https://www.bracknell-forest.gov.uk/.../multi-agency-safeguarding-hub-mash
11.2 The Action Plan does not intend to duplicate work being led by others but to bring together work across all sectors on the issues of Prevent into one cohesive, co-ordinated statement.