Agenda item

To understand steps being taken in schools to address counter extremism.

The Chair welcomed Shokat Lal, Assistant Chief Executive, Pepe Di’Lasio, Assistant Director for Education, Ian Stubbs, Community Engagement Co-ordinator, and Sam Barstow, Head of Community Safety and Regulatory Services to the meeting.

The Assistant Chief Executive introduced the  briefing paper which detailed the proactive work Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council was undertaking in schools and colleges across the Borough to counter extremist narratives and build the resilience of young people to reject extremism, intolerance and hatred.

The paper outlined that the distinction between Counter Extremism (CE) and Counter terrorism (PREVENT) was difficult to make. PREVENT was a safeguarding process for individuals vulnerable to radicalisation like any other safeguarding process whereas Counter Extremism worked with communities rather than individuals, to challenge extremist narratives and build resilience within communities to reject hatred.

Extremism was defined by government as the vocal or active opposition to our fundamental values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and the mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs.

The key pieces of work developed in accordance with statutory guidance and undertaken with schools and colleges to counter extremism included:

·                Holding the “Harms of Hate” event for schools and developing teaching resources which have been recognised nationally as good practice.

·                Delivery of assemblies on extremism in secondary schools.

·                Delivery staff training on the current far right threat.

·                Delivery of work with primary schools.

·                Work with partners to develop CE projects including some delivered in schools.

·                Development and sharing of teaching resources to challenge extremism.

It was stated that RMBC was in a strong position to lead on CE work. There was a strong correlation between the Council’s Building Stronger Communities (BSC) action plan and actions covered in the Government’s integrated communities’ strategy The BSC and thriving neighbourhoods strategies are both recognised in recent Local Government Association (LGA) reports as good practice. The Local Authority had successfully applied for funding to support the CE initiative across the Borough.

The current national climate was such that the extremism risk, especially from the far right was unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. It was highlighted that the threat of extremism in Rotherham reflected the national picture.

It was outlined that positive relationships had been developed with schools and colleges across the Borough to deliver this initiative sensitively. Partners included South Yorkshire Police, Rotherham United Community Sports Trust and other voluntary sector organisation were engaged in this agenda and were committed to its ongoing delivery.

The Strategic Director gave details of future developments including work with adults with particular reference to neighbourhood working and engaging people in dialogues about their communities. He noted that there were challenges in relation to hate crime and stressed the importance of strengthening the relationship with police and other partner agencies.

A short video was shown from the “Harms of Hate” event which took place in 2018. Over 400 children from 10 Rotherham schools participated in the event and at the request of Secondary Heads, another event had been planned for later in the year.

The Chair welcomed the work undertaken to date and was assured by the work undertaken in schools and colleges to challenge the extremist narrative at the earliest opportunity.

Members sought information on what basis the work undertaken had been judged as good practice. It was outlined that it was difficult to evaluate this work as it was hard to measure, in the short term, how perceptions and behaviours have changed. However, the request to hold a second “Harms of Hate” event by schools was seen to be positive and the work had generated interest from other Local Authorities. The Assistant Chief Executive and Assistant Director for Education committed to exploring how the impact in schools can be evaluated qualitatively. It was reported that there was a reduction in the number of hate incidents in schools reported to the local authority recently.

Training was offered to staff identified by schools. This included teaching staff, support staff or lunch-time supervisors as appropriate. An element of the training focused on safeguarding and ensuring that staff were alert to concerns relating to CE and these were referred appropriately. It was recognised that children and young people had other influences outside of the school environment and schools were also linking with the wider community to ensure concerns were flagged. Reference was made to a recent terrorist attack in New Zealand and work undertaken with faith communities within Rotherham to address concerns, promote cohesion and manage consequences.  Assurance had been given to local communities, particularly around the reporting of hate crime and how such incidents were responded to.

Work with parents and carers was not specifically delivered as part of this project. However, it was recognised that this could be an important area for development, as part of the broader neighbourhood engagement work.

It was noted that the main focus of the counter extremism work focused on countering far-right activity, which was considered to be the greatest current threat. Assurance was sought that agencies were alert to other forms of extremism and plans were in place to address them. In response, it was outlined that Safer Rotherham Partnership examined local intelligence and risks and threats and there was an action plan in place co-ordinated by the ‘Prevent Silver Group’ to ensure that resources were targeted appropriately.

It was noted that the Community Engagement Coordinator’s post was funded until March 2020, however discussions were underway with the Home Office about the future sustainability of the initiative.

Clarification was sought on the schools which had not fully engaged in the counter extremism work and what action was taken to address this. The Community Engagement Co-ordinator outlined that engagement with schools was an improving picture. Whilst there were three schools which had had little or no engagement currently, the Assistant Director for Education was brokering meetings to begin this work with headteachers.

A request was made that a further report be provided to the Commission outlining how the local authority was meeting its Prevent duty and an update given on its counter extremism work as part of 2020/21 work programme.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the report be noted.

(2) That a report be submitted to this Commission as part of 2020/21 work programme outlining how the local authority was meeting its Prevent duty.

(3)  That an update on its counter extremism work be submitted to this Commission as part of 2020/21 work programme.

(4) That this update includes an evaluation of the work in schools and further details of the work with adults and neighbourhoods and any specific work with parents and carers.