Prevent

Prevent is part of the Government's counter-terrorism strategy CONTEST and aims to safeguard and provide support to divert vulnerable individuals at risk from being radicalised or groomed into supporting terrorist activity, before any crimes are committed. Radicalisation is comparable to other forms of exploitation, such as grooming and exploitation. It is the process by which a person comes to support terrorism and extremist ideologies associated with terrorist groups. Radicalisation is process rather than an event, and there is no single profile or pathway by which someone can be drawn into terrorism.

There are instead a range of contributing factors including, peer pressure, bullying, family tensions, race/hate crime, lack of self-esteem or identity and personal or political grievances which can make people more vulnerable. Vulnerable individuals are often targeted and influenced by radicalisers either directly or increasingly in online chat rooms or through social media. The Counter-Terrorism and Security Act (2015) places a specific legal duty on specified authorities, including local authorities and health providers in the exercise of their functions, to have due regard to the need to prevent people being drawn into terrorism.

Channel Panel is a confidential, voluntary panel sitting under the Community Safety Partnership, which is designed to support children and adults who may be at risk of being radicalised and drawn into terrorism. Please refer to each Local Authority Area for details on referring to Channel Panel: Bracknell Forest, Reading, Royal Borough Windsor and Maidenhead, Slough, West Berkshire, Wokingham.