Prevent, the Government’s counter-terror programme, could work better as part of a violence prevention strategy in the long term and should apply to those fascinated by extreme violence, a watchdog has said.
Independent Prevent Commissioner David Anderson KC has recommended the deradicalisation initiative should remain open to those with no fixed ideology in his report published on Wednesday.
The review, looking at lessons learned from the cases of MP Sir David Amess’s murderer Ali Harbi Ali and Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana, said “intensive” efforts have been made to improve processes, but the “jury is out” on some of the changes.
Lord Anderson said: “A huge amount of effort has already gone into making Prevent a stronger programme than the one which failed to deal in 2014 with the future killer of Sir David Amess.
“A blizzard of further initiatives has followed the Southport murders of last summer. Though it is too early for all of these to be fully evaluated, taken together they will reduce the chances of such failings being repeated.
“But more needs to be done. It has to be clear that people with a fascination with extreme violence can be suitable subjects for Prevent, even when they have no discernible ideology.”
He added: “In the longer term, I believe that Prevent could work better as part of a comprehensive violence prevention and safeguarding strategy.”
The report recommended for a Cabinet Office task force to be set up to explore the possibility of formally connecting Prevent to a broader violence prevention and safeguarding system.
It comes as the commissioner for the Commission for Countering Extremism, Robin Simcox, told the Commons’ Home Affairs Committee that if Prevent shifted its focus towards taking on more cases of those with interests in extreme violence, it would mean the system “isn’t really a counter-terrorism programme any more”.
He told MPs on Tuesday it would be a “pretty fundamental shift in what Prevent is”, adding: “Prevent better brace itself for an awful lot of referrals.”
Meanwhile, the interim Prevent commissioner’s report also called for the body to “up its game in the online world, where most radicalisation takes place”.
Lord Anderson’s report said that approaches to understanding organised terrorist activity from the last two decades are “insufficient” for understanding digital movements of self-radicalised extremists, whose online behaviours are “increasingly difficult to detect and interpret”.
Speaking at the Home Affairs select committee on Tuesday, Lord Anderson said the average age of a person referred to Prevent is now 16 years old, and 40% are aged 11-15 so they are “dealing here with digital natives”.
The report concluded: “Wider decisions loom on how Prevent can be better tailored to the online world inhabited by so many of its subjects; how best to deal with those whose ideology amounts to little more than a fascination with extreme violence; and whether Prevent should ultimately be embedded in a more general violence reduction strategy.”
Lord Anderson detailed that he heard evidence from across the country of a large increase in Prevent referrals in the first quarter of this year following the publicity of Rudakubana’s case.
He added that reactions to popular Netflix series Adolescence on the theme of “incels” may have also encouraged more referrals.
Latest figures on Prevent referrals for 2023-2024 included in the report show 36% of 6,921 cases were made up of concerns of vulnerability but no ideology or counter-terror risk, followed by 19% extreme right wing and 18% for conflicted ideology.
The report follows Prevent Learning Reviews published into the two cases.
A review assessing Rudakubana’s closed referrals to the programme years before he went on to murder three girls, and attempted to kill eight others and two adults, found too much focus was placed on the absence of a distinct ideology.
Solicitor Chris Walker, who represents the girls’ families, said that opportunities to intervene were lost because referrals to other agencies who could have helped Rudakubana were not followed up.
He and the families expect the public inquiry into the atrocity to establish whether a different handling of the case would have led to a different outcome, adding that “real change needs to come in order to prevent other families going through what my clients face”.
“Lord Anderson is right that lessons must be learned and we call upon the Government and authorities to ensure they do more than simply paying lip service,” Mr Walker added.
Harbi Ali’s case was also deemed to be closed too early after “problematic” assessments, before he went on to kill veteran MP Sir David seven years later.
Lord Anderson’s report found that lessons “must continue to be learned” from the failure to stop two killers.
Radd Seiger, adviser and spokesperson for the family of Sir David, said they are “deeply upset” and “frankly offended” by the way Lord Anderson’s report has been handled by the Home Office.
He said the family were given “next to no notice” of the timing or advance sight of the report, adding media leaks were a further insult to the family.
Mr Seiger said they also received a “dismissive” letter from the Home Secretary, which he said was designed to “protect the Government following its failings” and not support them.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the Government will “immediately act” on findings made by Lord Anderson.
In a written statement, she said Prevent thresholds will be clarified in guidance for frontline workers who have a duty to refer individuals to Prevent, so they understand those fascinated with extreme violence or mass casualty attacks should be referred to the counter-terror programme.
She said this work will be completed by the end of September.
The Home Secretary also said work will continue to look at how Prevent connects with wider violence prevention and safeguarding efforts, and officials will work with tech companies to boost efforts to tackle online radicalisation.
Ms Cooper said: “Whilst we must look immediately at how Prevent works alongside wider safeguarding mechanisms to stop further missed opportunities, we also look forward to the outcome of the first phase of the Southport Public Inquiry, led by Sir Adrian Fulford, which will publish its findings later this year.”
Responding to the report, Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) senior national coordinator for prevent and pursue, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans, added: “We will now carefully reflect on the report and its recommendations, and continue to work alongside the Government, Security Services, wider policing and other partners to ensure that systems designed to keep the public safe from harm do exactly that.”
