Prevent Statistics

Sky News, Highest ever number of referrals to anti-extremism Prevent programme, 6 Nov 2025

"There was an increase in people referred for "extreme right-wing" concerns, as they accounted for 21% (1,798) - a 37% rise from 1,314 (19%) the year before.

That was higher than those related to "Islamist extremism", which accounted for 10% (879) compared with 13% (913) the previous year.

Prevent Programme Criticised

BBC News, Prevent counter-terror scheme lambasted in review "The report from the Home Office's hand-picked reviewer says the Prevent strategy has lost its way."

'Prevent' under scrutiny

Arab News, UK officials who oversaw funding of extremist Muslim groups must be sacked: counterterrorism expert "UK Prevent program officials who have overseen the public funding of Muslim groups that promote extremism should be sacked, a counterterrorism expert has said in The Times newspaper."

Prevent and NHS

Aida Hassan, The New Arab, Interrupting care: How Prevent undermines Muslims’ access to UK’s public health sector, 22 June 2022 "Under assault by large swathes of the UK's public sector, British Muslims struggle to gain the access required to remedy their deep-seated issues. In particular, Prevent has infiltrated public health infrastructure, causing disproportionate damage." This is a must-read. It also points to the Medact, 2020 report False Positives: the Prevent counter-extremism policy in healthcare

British Muslims boycott Prevent review

MEMO, British Muslims boycott Prevent review over 'rigged' appointment of Friends of Israel founder

"An unprecedented coalition across the British Muslim community is opposing the British government's decision to appoint one of the founding members of the Friends of Israel Initiative to lead a review of a discredited anti-radicalisation programme. More than 450 Muslim civil society groups plus 100 leading figures have said that they will boycott the Review of the controversial Prevent policy to be headed by William Shawcross, whose appointment has been called "rigged" by one of the contenders for the post, a former leading prosecutor."

Not the most informed appointment for such a sensitive subject.

Manchester PREVENT

Manchester colleges agreed to share data of students referred to #Prevent with universities

A young person subject to a Prevent referral does not have to consent to the information being shared, though they are informed, the documents show.
https://t.co/eSqBkjFbcy

— Miqdaad Versi (@miqdaad) July 19, 2020

'The Perils of Engaging CVE Policy Making'

Sadek Hamid The Maydan, The Perils of Engaging CVE Policy Making: A British Case Study opinion/analysis "Academics with expertise in Islamic Studies have much to offer a public arena saturated with prejudiced media coverage, self-styled experts and growing anti-Muslim sentiment. However, making interventions in the mainstream can come at a price if individuals become targeted by well-funded interest groups. This politicization of the field can also force scholars to make the difficult decision of whether or not to engage with governments in case they are labelled as Islamophiles or “Islam sympathisers.”"

Prevent strategy: your questions answered

Guardian, Prevent strategy: your questions answered "The unveiling of a secret database holding all referrals to Prevent has sparked a fresh debate over the controversial anti-radicalisation programme."

Prevent Strategy

Discover Society, FOCUS: An Independent Review of the Prevent Strategy

"The immediate context of this special issue of Discover Society is the Independent Review of the Prevent Strategy which the government announced as part of the passage of the Counter Terrorism and Border Security Act (2019). Among other concerns, Liberty has argued that the Counter Terrorism and Border Security Act is a further step in a process of the criminalisation of speech. This was begun in the Counter Extremism Strategy of 2015, and the new Act adds the idea that support for extremism can be inadvertent, but ‘reckless’, if there was insufficient care with regard to the consequences of speech in influencing others toward radicalisation."

'Woke' Campaign

Middle East Eye, REVEALED: The 'woke' media outfit that's actually a UK counterterror programme 

"A social media network for young people that has been launched around the term “woke” is actually a covert British government counterterrorism programme, security officials have admitted." Screenshot from Instagram:

'Prevent' Review

MCB, Muslim Council of Britain Welcomes Independent Review of Prevent It's important that Prevent has a thorough, independent review. "The Muslim Council of Britain was one of a number of civil society organisations, human rights groups and liberty advocates who have long highlighted a number of serious failings and lack of transparency, including the former independent reviewer of counter-terror legislation David Anderson, the Joint Committee on Human Rights and the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of assembly and association." Also see Tahir Abbas, Countering violent extremism: a left-realist critique of ‘Prevent’: Yahya Birt, Is the Independent Review of Prevent an opportunity or a trap?

Anger over Sara Khan appointment to lead UK counter-extremism commission

Middle East Eye, Anger over Sara Khan appointment to lead UK counter-extremism commission, 23 Jan 2018 opinions on this appointment from all sides, in relation to the Prevent strategy. "Campaigner described as 'a creation of and mouthpiece for the Home Office' as government faces criticism over controversial appointment." Also see The Guardian, Choice of new UK anti-extremism chief criticised as 'alarming', 24 Jan 2018 and BBC News, Controversy over new counter-extremism tsar Sara Khan, 25 Jan 2018

Preventing Prevent (opinion piece)

opinion piece: Iqra Choudhry, The Overtake, Preventing Prevent

Community Reporting Thresholds

CREST, Community Reporting Thresholds "This is the full report on Community Reporting Thresholds, produced by CREST. It looks at the reporting of potential violent extremism and terrorism, focusing on identifying triggers, thresholds and barriers which may stop someone from reporting." Available as a pdf, with more information here.

"Prevent is not working'

PoliticsHome.com, Lucy Allan MP: Prevent is not working, and it undermines trust between teachers and pupils "Writing exclusively for PoliticsHome, Lucy Allan MP says that teachers are being forced by the Prevent programme to monitor and scrutinise what children are saying, with suspicion and mistrust."

Muslim leaders summit

Middle East Eye, Google-hosted Muslim leaders summit linked to Home Office Prevent unit

'Drama in the age of Prevent'

Guardian, Drama in the age of Prevent: why can't we move beyond Good Muslim v Bad Muslim?

Deradicalising Britain: the activists turning young Muslims away from extremism

Guardian, Deradicalising Britain: the activists turning young Muslims away from extremism, 18 March 2016

Research: Taking Part: Muslim Participation in Contemporary Governance

Bristol University | Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship | Research outputs: Taking Part: Muslim Participation in Contemporary Governance (January 2013)

"This final report provides the main findings from the most comprehensive study to date on UK Muslim-government relations, which included an analysis of public policy since 1997, a total of 112 interviews with key policymakers and Muslim civil society actors, and in-depth local case studies of Birmingham, Leicester, and Tower Hamlets, London.  The Report describes how British Muslims have been taking part in governance in the three policy fields of equality, diversity & cohesion; faith sector governance; and security (including the Prevent Strategy).  It describes how modes of Muslim representation have developed into a broader 'democratic constellation' ""

PDF link here

Prevent strategy

Home Office, Prevent strategy 2011

"The Prevent strategy has been re-focused following a review. The strategy now contains three objectives: to respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism and the threat from those who promote it; to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure that they are given appropriate advice and support; and to work with sectors and institutions where there are risks of radicalisation that we need to address."

There's a set of pdfs on the page, including versions in Arabic and Urdu.


I have yet to read any of these documents in detail.