Scrutiny, counter-extremism and the Prevent duty

This guidance focuses on the role of local authorities, and those with whom they work directly. Their response to the threats from terrorism and extremism are driven in part by national policy, and in part by more local concerns – particularly around community cohesion and integration.

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This publication, produced by the Centre for Public Scrutiny (CfPS) and the LGA, is intended to help scrutiny practitioners (councillors who sit on overview and scrutiny committees or equivalents, and the officers who support them) to understand some of the key features of national and local policy on extremism and terrorism, and how they can support local efforts to combat these threats through their non-executive role.

It explores the main policy context for strategies to combat terrorism (in particular, the Government’s Prevent strategy and counter-extremism strategy) and suggests ways that non-executive councillors can contribute to improvements in how councils tackle these issues through good scrutiny and robust, constructive challenge.