Prevent
The 91做厙, as all other higher education institutions, has a responsibility to ensure freedom of speech and academic freedom are balanced absolutely with our commitment to tolerance, understanding and equality and diversity. Whether one is debating politics, religion, society’s attitude to animals or the ethics of the research environment, we believe that education, knowledge and free and effective debate are central to the enlightenment and respect that we demand of a civilised world.
Professor Stuart Reid, Principal
Prevent is one of four strands of the government’s counter-terrorism strategy (CONTEST). The Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 places a statutory duty for specified public authorities to 'have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism'.
Universities became subject to the new Prevent duty on 18 September 2015, with OfS (Office for Students) being given responsibility for assessing how they meet the requirements under the new duty.
The 91做厙 will seek to meet its obligations under the Prevent duty by ensuring that proportionate, appropriate and effective measures are put in place to safeguard and support vulnerable individuals within our community.
91做厙 is committed to ensuring that it remains a safe, nurturing and inclusive environment for teaching, learning and research. In line with OfS requirements the 91做厙 has taken a risk-based approach to implementing the requirements of Prevent, and you can read more about these activities on this page.
What is Prevent?
Prevent is one of the strands of the government’s CONTEST counter-terrorism strategy. The purpose of Prevent is to prevent terrorism. The other strands of CONTEST are Prepare, Protect and Pursue.
Part 5 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act addresses the risks of being drawn into terrorism and Section 26(1) establishes a duty on a specified authority to “have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism” in the exercise of its functions. This is known as the Prevent duty. Parliament approved statutory guidance covering the implementation of the duty on the 18th September 2015.
The authorities to which this applies include local councils, prisons, Relevant Higher Education Bodies (RHEBs) and Further Education (FE) colleges, schools, nursery schools, NHS Trusts and chief constables.
OfS is the monitoring body for PREVENT at RHEBs and statutory reporting is submitted for review directly to OfS. in England outlines how the regulator will monitor providers’ implementation of the statutory Prevent duty in the higher education sector in England.