Agenda item

The Committee will receive an overall update on the anti-terror Prevent programme. The presentation will be delivered in partnership by the Police, the Head of Community Safety and the Prevent Co-ordinator for the city. Members are invited to note and comment on the presentation as they see fit.

Daxa Pancholi, the Head of Community Safety and Protection, Sean Abruthnot, Prevent Co-ordinator and Police Inspector William Knopp were present to deliver a power-point presentation on Prevent.

The Head of Community Safety and Protection introduced the presentation, a copy of which is attached to the back of the minutes and stated that Leicester was a multicultural city with a long-standing reputation for community cohesion; from time to time however there were people who posed a threat to the community.

Members considered the presentation and comments and queries raised included the following:

·      In response to a question about referrals from schools, Members heard that schools submitted the largest numbers of referrals, possibly because teachers heard conversations and comments which concerned them.

·      The Home Office provided funding for a Prevent Education officer who worked with local schools; Members heard that schools had a duty in respect of Prevent.  

·      In response to a question about training on Prevent for Councillors, the meeting heard that Prevent training was held as part of the Member Development Programme and a further session could be arranged if required. The Member suggested that it would be most appropriate to hold this in the new municipal year.

·      Councillor Grant referred to a question about CAGE that he had raised at the previous meeting of the Overview Select Committee. Councillor Grant asked how an organisation such as CAGE, which was not prescribed fitted in with the Prevent Programme.

Inspector Knopp replied that CAGE was an extremist group and as such if the group was meeting in the city, they would look to see that the venue was appropriately sighted on the risks associated with that group. The Prevent partnership would look to see if it was appropriately chaired and ideally that a counter narrative would be offered.

Members heard that CAGE had held a meeting in a private venue in July and the group that hosted them had allowed Prevent to attend. At that event, representatives from Prevent had been permitted to challenge some of the views expressed. Inspector Knopp added that when groups such as CAGE visited, it was important that there was a robust response from partners and that an alternative view put forward to what was an exaggerated grievance narrative.

·      A Member asked about the number of radical groups existing in Leicester and Inspector Knopp responded that they were seeing an increase in the number of far right and extreme right-wing groups. Some of the groups appeared on the surface to be acceptable, but had anti-migrant and anti-Islam views

·      A Member asked about the role the Youth Commissioner had in the Prevent Programme and the Prevent Co-ordinator said that as he was relatively new to Leicester, he had not yet had the opportunity to work with the Youth Commissioner but was keen to do so. The Head of Community Safety and Protection added that the Young People’s Council were very interested and engaged in this agenda.

·      In relation to the emergence of far-right groups, a Member asked as to what point the Ward Councillors might be involved if that emergence was happening in their community. Inspector Knopp said that they were trying to map prevent referrals to where there were incidents of hate crimes to see where there was an overlap. Councillors should expect to be briefed where there was a real impact on community safety.

·      It was noted that Leicester City chaired the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Prevent Steering Group and the Head of Community Safety and Protection explained that there was some work to be done to improve communications as people were not always aware what the Prevent Programme was about. She and the Prevent Co-ordinator were working on a communication plan to ensure council officers and the wider city were more aware and they were constantly reviewing the situation. Members heard that the Home Office had issued some good practice guidance and the work that Leicester was doing had been extensively fed into that.

·      A Member expressed concerns that there were lots of groups that Prevent were not engaging with and Inspector Knopp responded that they were keen to engage with the wider community.  He referred to a product funded by the Home Officer called Channel Positive Messages by which they worked with lay audiences and demystified the channel process by which information was received and safeguarding measures were implemented. They were trying to put this across to as many people as possible but finding groups that wanted to engage with Prevent was proving to be problematic.  Inspector Knopp welcomed any suggestions for groups that they could take this product to. Members heard that Prevent officers were working to establish whether there was a range of representative groups across all the different protective characteristics, to enable a wider representation. The Head of Community Safety and Protection reiterated that they welcomed contact details of people that they could talk to.

·      A Member commented that she would like more information on Channel Positive Messages and was informed that the next event would be held on 14 November at St Philip’s Centre from 6 – 9 pm. A separate event could be held for Councillors if requested.

·      A Member commented that as a Muslim she had suffered from a lot racism and discrimination. She said that Prevent engaged with children and men at Mosques, and also with the Youth Council but questioned how the Prevent officers engaged with women and mothers of those children, some of whom spoke different languages.  She also asked how Prevent engaged with the white community, as Muslims suffered from racism from them. Inspector Knopp replied that women had been identified as a key demographic group that they needed to engage with; women knew what was happening in the home and were a strong influence. However, this was a challenge, as for some women there were barriers in attending meetings. It may be that there was a need for women only or men only meetings.  Measures were being taken to address this issue, but it was recognised that more needed to be done. The Prevent Co-ordinator added that an interfaith women’s only forum met monthly at St Philip’s Centre, to discuss issues such as hate crime and radicalisation. 

·      A Member commented that many sporting clubs and groups were required to have a child protection co-ordinator, and he suggested that Prevent officers might find it useful to contact them as a way forward in engaging with the wider community.

The Chair drew the discussion to a close and commented that the efforts the Prevent Officers were making was focussed and going in the right direction. He thanked the officers for their presentation.

AGREED:

                   that the presentation and comments from Members be noted.