Thanks for getting in touch with this concern and to be honest I am surprised that there hasn't been more,
especially considering the bad press Prevent has South of the border, rightly or wrongly.
If anything it is almost more important that the individual who has raised this concern attends the session now
as it will go a long way to addressing their concerns. Although Prevent is part of the UK Government's strategy
for countering terrorism and extremism, the way it is put into action is devolved to Scottish Government.
The Scottish Government and Police Scotland have taken a very different approach to how they implement it,
you could say learning the lessons from England and Wales, and the Council is no different. This approach
follows a model based around the safeguarding of vulnerable people already promoted through the vast array
of public protection processes the Council provides.
This workshop is purely there to allow our staff to have a level of awareness about this potential pathway to
crime in addition to those already there such as through gangs, drugs, alcohol abuse etc.
The individuals concern around Prevent promoting Islamophobia is not one I am surprised at either. This is
sadly the underlying message portrayed in the media in England and Wales, however one that has thankfully
not spread to Scotland. There are many reasons why this is the case, some of which are addressed as part of
the workshop.
Ironically in Scotland, the majority of work by Prevent is carried out tackling sectarian and extreme right wing
ideologies. However, the workshop itself does not deal with ideologies, but the underlying vulnerabilities and
susceptibilities that we have a duty to recognise for all of our vulnerable clients. These could lead to any form
of crime or harm to those individuals and certainly does not promote 'how to identify a terrorist' as that simply
is not what this is about.
There is a bit of a misunderstanding around Edinburgh Colleges stance also. We work closely with them
through the Edinburgh CONTEST Group and what they have actually done is develop their own materials and
training from the Home Office provided materials to incorporate all strands of the UK Strategy and to bring it to
a form that students will use. They certainly have not dropped Prevent they just may not call it that. The aims
of Prevent are now a statutory duty so they simply would not be allowed to drop it anyway.
I hope this addresses the individuals concern and I really would encourage them to attend the session even
just so they can pass their own judgement on it rather than being informed by others who are maybe less
informed.
Any questions give me a shout."