UK government to appoint new commissioner for maligned Prevent strategy

The UK Home Office is set to appoint a new commissioner to oversee the Prevent strategy, raising fresh questions about the future direction of the controversial counter-terrorism programme.
The creation of the new role, which was announced by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, appears to signal a change of approach under the new Labour government, and an apparent sidelining of another Home Office-created body previously tasked with oversight of Prevent, the Commission for Countering Extremism (CCE).
Robin Simcox, the current head of the CCE, was made responsible for Prevent by the previous Conservative government following a contentious review of the strategy by William Shawcross.
But on Tuesday, the Home Office said the new independent Prevent commissioner would be recruited "with the specific remit of reviewing the programme’s effectiveness, identifying gaps and problems before they emerge".
That has led to speculation that Simcox's role could be at risk, and that the creation of the new role could precede more extensive changes to Prevent, which has been widely criticised by human rights organisations and campaign groups representing Muslim communities.
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Dr Layla Aitlhadj, director of rights group Prevent Watch, told Middle East Eye: "While the creation of yet another Prevent-related role is concerning, the introduction of the independent Prevent reviewer would make the removal of the Commission for Countering Extremism inevitable - which would be a welcome development."
Prevent has been increasingly criticised for allegedly breaching human rights and focusing disproportionately on Muslims.
In August, a United Nations report called for the suspension of Prevent and advocated reparations for people abused under the programme.
Prevent targets all forms of "extremism", and requires public sector workers - including doctors, teachers and nursery staff - to report signs of potential radicalisation and "prevent people being drawn into terrorism".
The UN report said that Prevent and British counter-terrorism strategies "have created an atmosphere of suspicion towards members of Muslim communities and continue to have a negative impact on the exercise of their rights to freedom of expression, education, health and freedoms of religion and peaceful assembly".
No charter or reference
The CCE was set up by the Home Office as a non-statutory body in 2018 and describes itself as providing the government with “impartial, expert advice and scrutiny on the tools, policies and approaches needed to tackle extremism”.
Its purview was initially limited, with its charter stating that it “has no remit on counter-terrorism policies, including Prevent”.
But that changed with the publication in 2023 of a much-criticised review of Prevent, boycotted by hundreds of civil society organisations after the lead reviewer, Shawcross, was accused of making Islamophobic comments.
Upon the Shawcross review's recommendation, the CCE, by then headed by Simcox, was given oversight over Prevent's delivery.
Simcox had been a controversial appointee who had a record of working for think tanks accused of Islamophobia.
But the approach that he advocated for countering extremism - which argued for a stronger focus on targeting "Islamist extremism" - was supported by Shawcross.
Simcox said in an October 2023 speech, his first prominent public intervention while in the role, that the CCE was “working tirelessly with government to ensure the Independent Review of Prevent is implemented both in letter and in spirit”.
He added that the CCE was set to “process and investigate complaints about Prevent” - and to “determine if Prevent is being delivered properly within a direction already set by ministers”.
This would violate the CCE’s charter, were it not for the fact that in July that year, it had been quietly withdrawn. The CCE now operates without one.
The unit has since come under further scrutiny.
In February 2024, critics accused the government of attempting to shield Prevent from accountability when it launched a new Standards and Compliance Unit within the CCE to handle complaints about the programme.
The creation of the unit meant that complaints are handled by the same body, the CCE, that was overseeing its delivery.
On Wednesday, MEE asked the Home Office and the CCE how the new role of Independent Prevent Commissioner will be integrated with the CCE's role, but received no clarification.
MEE further asked both what the CCE's terms of reference are, but received no response.
Youth diversion orders
Labour has signalled that it wants to move Prevent away from the approach championed by Simcox and Shawcross and towards a more broad understanding of extremism.
In February 2023, Cooper, who was then in opposition, responded to the Shawcross review by warning there “should be no hierarchy of extremism”. She called for a broader counter-extremism strategy to fight “hateful extremism”.
After entering government as home secretary, Cooper commissioned a new review of Prevent.
The Home Office also announced on Tuesday the creation of a new counter-terrorism power called the "Youth Diversion Order", which could see children arrested for low-level and non-violent terror offences be referred to Prevent rather than convicted.
This comes as Vicki Evans, the national co-ordinator for counter-terrorism policing, said there has been a rapid increase of people, including children as young as 11, who have a "fascination with extreme violence and extreme content".
'Prevent seems to target young people who have committed no offences'
- John Holmwood, University of Nottingham
Accessing such material is considered by the police an indicator of potential radicalisation.
Evans said on Wednesday: "We most definitely need to think differently about how we stop that conveyor belt of young people who are seeing and being exposed to this type of material and unfortunately sometimes then going on to commit horrific acts."
John Holmwood, emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Nottingham, told MEE the proposed new reforms were "messy".
"On the one hand, there is a recommendation to decriminalise young people who have committed low-level non-violent terrorism offences.
"On the other hand, Prevent seems to target young people who have committed no offences and are judged not to be expressing extremist ideology or to be a counter-terrorism risk," he added.
"The sensible solution would be to remove the Prevent duty from schools, colleges and health services, and instead commit funding to youth services, including mental health services."
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