Agenda item

·         The progress of delivery of the Prevent Action Plan

Mr Sam Rosengard, PREVENT Coordinator, spoke to his slides (Barnet Prevent Multi-agency Action Plan) which had been circulated with the agenda. There were 6 key actions in the plan.

1.    The Barnet Prevent Delivery Group meets quarterly and was well represented including input from Children’s and Adults’ Services, Probation Services, education providers including Middlesex University and other external partners.

The Barnet Channel Panel is chaired by the Community Safety Manager and meets monthly.  Channel is a programme providing support at an early stage to people identified as at risk of being drawn into terrorism.

2.    The Counter Terrorism Local Profile is produced annually and is communicated to key stakeholders and used to inform local action plans to reduce the risk of radicalisation and extremism. Barnet is part of a cluster including 4 neighbouring boroughs; there is an Action Plan in relation to 6 priority areas which is reviewed every quarter.

3.    The Action Plan is monitored by the SCPB and the Barnet Strategic Commissioning Board.

4.    Training is being delivered to local authority staff and staff operating across the Barnet partnership; many of Barnet’s staff worked with vulnerable people and so it was important that they are able to recognise signs of radicalisation.

Mr Rosengard was also working in the community with training plans being implemented. The Barnet Prevent Education Officer had offered training to all Barnet schools. Training would be carried out for Barnet Homes and Re. A trainer had been identified in Re but Barnet Homes did not so far have a trainer. Mr Coleman stated that he would speak with the training hub as this was due to capacity issues within Barnet Homes.  The Chairman noted that it was pivotal that Barnet Homes took this forward.

Action: Mr Coleman

Mr Rosengard reported that he had trained Barnet officers and managers including the Corporate Anti-Fraud Team (CAFT), CRC and NPS staff, staff at Barnet Mencap and had offered to train staff at Barnet MIND and the Westminster Drugs Project.

5.    Local procedures were being audited to ensure that systems were in place to risk assess Council venues to ensure that they are not being used to promote extremism. Schools would be asked to look at their IT systems to check for any extremist material. Home Office funding had been provided to look at supplementary non-regulated education providers in Barnet. Schools safeguarding audits were carried out annually. It was a priority to get in contact with all schools to offer them safeguarding advice and when a school contact the team with a safeguarding concern they used this as an opportunity. Mr Rosengard had regular contact with Middlesex University and Barnet Southgate College.

6.    Adopting pan-London procedures for safeguarding children and adults - ensuring that the Prevent duty is integrated into existing safeguarding strategies, policies and procedures. Barnet Family Services had produced a document with signposting to national procedures where any concerns were raised.

Mr Rosengard noted that NHS England had provided guidance and offered timely mental health assessments.

Superintendent Smith advised that Senior Alex Brooke was the Prevent point of contact for Barnet, Harrow and Brent.