The prevent duty in UK higher education: Insights from freedom of information requests

Prevent is the UK’s counter-extremism strategy and is designed to stop people being drawn towards, or coming to support, terrorism. Framed as a ‘softer’ element of the counter-terrorism strategy, Prevent looks to engage with communities and public bodies to identify vulnerable people and interpose. In an effort to expand Prevent’s coverage, the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act (CTSA, 2015) came into law in September 2015 and with it so too did the Prevent Duty (henceforth ‘the duty’). The duty made it the legal requirement of a series of public sector ‘specified authorities’ to pay, ‘due regard to the need to prevent individuals from being drawn into terrorism’ (CTSA, 2015). The duty broadened the coverage of Prevent to include all the people that work within these specified authorities as well as those who ‘go through’ them – a group that would cover almost the entirety of the population in England, Scotland and Wales.