On 17 October The Guardian newspaper published an article suggesting that a key focus of the British Government's counter extremism programme, Prevent, is spying on the British Muslim community. As a Home Office spokesman said last week, 'Any suggestion that Prevent is about spying is simply wrong. Prevent is about working with communities to protect vulnerable individuals and address the root causes of radicalisation'.

The United Kingdom, like many other countries around the world, faces a severe and continuing threat from international terrorism. Most countries around the world who face a terrorist threat have a Prevent type strategy. So do the European Union and the United Nations.

Prevent is our long term strategy which aims to stop people becoming or supporting violent extremism. It builds on a deeper understanding of how individuals become radicalised, and requires working at a local, national and international level. Prevent aims to challenge the extremist ideology, strengthen institutions, support individuals at risk of radicalisation, help our communities resist promoters of violent extremism and address the grievances on which extremists prey.

Prevent is not about spying on people. There is no hidden agenda to stigmatise or criminalise any individual or to target any community. We know that the solution to tackling extremism is not purely a law and order one.  Rather Prevent, like other facets of neighbourhood policing and community safety, has always been open about the need for communities, Local Authorities and police to work closely together. We want to identify and support vulnerable individuals and help communities and projects intervene to divert them away from violent extremism before they become radicalised. We cannot do this without working with communities to develop and sustain trust and mutual respect.

However, effective information sharing is crucial to ensuring that partners are able to build a comprehensive picture of an individual's vulnerability and to make a decision on the right type and level of support appropriate. In August the Government published 'Delivering the Prevent Strategy: An Updated Guide for Local Partners' providing guidance for local partners on information sharing in support of the Prevent strategy. This endorsed the principle that partners may consider sharing personal information with each other for Prevent purposes, subject to a case by case assessment which considers whether the informed consent of the individual can be obtained and whether the proposed sharing is necessary, proportionate and lawful. The laws which enable this were not set up for Prevent. Information sharing between public sector partners already happens in other areas of policy such as work on public health, or work to help keep people from being drawn into drugs and gangs.

The British Government will also continue to challenge views which fall short of supporting violence and are within the law, but which reject and undermine our shared values and jeopardise community cohesion - the strong and positive relationships between people of different ethnic, faith and cultural backgrounds in this country. Some of these views can create a climate in which people may be drawn into violent activity. This is not about outlawing these views or criminalising those who hold them. Freedom of thought and speech are rights which are fundamental to our society. But we will stand up for our shared values and not concede the floor to those who dismiss them.

Read this Press Release in Arabic.

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