UK Security and Counter-

Terrorism:
Preventing Extremism:
The Challenge for London

Presentation to London Community Safety Partnership

12 February 2008

Stephen Rimmer
Director, Prevent & RICU
Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism
Home Office

020 7035 4652

Stephen.rimmer@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
 Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism

Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism (OSCT)

 Responsible for developing, coordinating and managing the implementation of the
core UK Counter-Terrorism strategy, CONTEST (formerly Cabinet Office role).

 OSCT also responsible for the implementation of those parts of CONTEST for
which Home Office is directly responsible.

 Cross-Government Research, Information and Communications Unit (RICU)

established within OSCT (reporting also to FCO and Dept for Communities and
Local Government)

 CONTEST implementation remains a cross-Government activity with a wide

range of stakeholders
CONTEST

What Do We Want To Achieve?

Reduce the risk to the UK and its interests overseas

Aim:
from international terrorism

Immediate Stop terrorist attacks, and … PURSUE

response

… where we cannot, mitigate their impact PREPARE

Strengthen our protection against terrorist attacks PROTECT

Improving
our situation
Stop people becoming terrorists PREVENT

Cross-cutting Build and maintain the key enabling capabilities for countering
terrorism
PREVENT
Aim:

To stop people becoming or supporting terrorists or violent extremists

Objectives:
 Undermine extremist ideology and support mainstream voices
 Disrupt those who promote violent extremism and strengthen vulnerable
institutions in the UK
 Support individuals who are vulnerable to recruitment by violent extremists
 Increase the capacity of communities to engage with and resist violent
extremists
 Effectively address grievances

Two cross-cutting workstreams:

 Develop understanding, analysis and evaluation

 Strategic communications
Delivering the PREVENT strategy: Government

 OSCT currently drawing up a delivery plan for the Prime Minister

 We can’t deliver the strategy from Whitehall – partners working together at local
level are the key to effective delivery

 Embedding work on Preventing Extremism at local level through PSA framework

and especially LAAs and APACs

 Better analysis and information needed for effective targeting of resources –

work underway to improve this e.g heatmaps

 Generating significant increase in coherent activity for 2008/09

 Effective communication and engagement website

Delivering the PREVENT strategy: local partnerships

 Home Secretary speech of 17 January

 Building on existing initiatives (neighbourhood policing; multi-agency
partnerships) to deliver a robust and coherent response to the challenge we
face

 Local Area Agreement National Indicator 35

 Police Prevent Plan

 For local partnerships to work, regional support and national coherence

(OSCT / CLG especially) is essential
Delivering the PREVENT strategy: London

 What does the “heat map” suggest?

 What do the LAA negotiations suggest?

 Capacity and capability of key players,

including MPS / Prisons / universities
etc

 What is the London “delivery

framework”?

 What more can central Government do

in support of your work?
What needs to happen next?

 Delivery Plan which sets out:
key workstreams and deliverables for
08/09
clarity around delivery landscape
specificity in terms of programmes and
their resourcing

 Sustained engagement with priority areas, including London

 Developing narrative on progress

Delivering the PREVENT strategy: key issues

 The cohesion resilience tackling violent extremism spectrum

 Prioritising vulnerable areas

 Specifying what works in terms of interventions

 Clarifying what success looks like and how to assess it