The anti-extremism programme has been under increased scrutiny after two recent terror incidents involving Southport attacker Axel Rudakubana and Sir David Amess’s killer Ali Harbi Ali damaged its reputation.
Lord Anderson KC was appointed as the new independent commissioner for Prevent in January and the long-awaited report into the scheme was published on Wednesday, outlining 10 recommendations to improve the programme.
His recommendations can be summarised into five major themes, including adapting to the online world and applying Prevent to people who have no fixed ideology but “a fascination with extreme violence or mass casualty attacks”.
Read more: What is Prevent and why is it controversial?
Lord Anderson recommended that “all feasible and right-compliant avenues should be explored as a matter of priority to enable evidence of online activity to be more effectively used”.
The online behaviours of self-radicalised extremists were “increasingly difficult to detect and interpret”.
This is because the average age of a person referred to Prevent is now 6, and 40% are aged 11-15, making them “digital natives”, Lord Anderson told the Home Affairs select committee on Tuesday.
“Wider decisions loom on how Prevent can be better tailored to the online world inhabited by so many of its subjects; how best to deal with those whose ideology amounts to little more than a fascination with extreme violence; and whether Prevent should ultimately be embedded in a more general violence reduction strategy,” the report concluded.
Additionally, Lord Anderson said he believes Prevent “could work as part of a comprehensive violence prevention and safeguarding strategy” in the longer term.
The report recommended that a Cabinet Office task force be set up to explore the possibility of formally connecting Prevent to a broader violence prevention and safeguarding system, as latest figures on Prevent referrals for 2023-2024 included in the report show 36% of 6,921 cases were made up of concerns of vulnerability but no ideology or counter-terror risk.
The review was launched following the brutal killings by Rudakubana and Ali.
Rudakubana, then 17, killed Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, in the attack at the Hart Space in Southport, Merseyside, on 29 July last year.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder in January and was sentenced to a minimum of 52 years in jail, with the judge saying it’s “highly likely” he will never be released.
It was revealed that Rudakubana, now 18, was referred to the government anti-extremism scheme – known as Prevent – three times before the murders due to a fixation with violence.
Each time his case was assessed, he was not deemed a terrorism risk, and he has never been subject to a counterterrorism police investigation or declared a subject of interest to MI5.
Islamic State (ISIS) supporter Ali was referred to Prevent years before he stabbed Conservative MP Sir David Amess to death during a constituency surgery at a church hall in Leigh-on-Sea in October 2021.
His case had been closed five years before, after just one meeting for coffee at a McDonald’s to deal with his interpretation of “haram” (forbidden under Islamic law), as well as texts and calls with an “intervention provider”.
Despite Prevent policy and guidance at the time being “mostly followed”, his case was “exited too quickly”, security minister Dan Jarvis told the House of Commons in January.
Lord Anderson said that lessons “must continue to be learned” from the failure to stop both killers.
“Prevent failed to provide what might have helped them. Whether different decisions might have spared their victims will never be known: both attacks came years later, and many imponderables intervened,” he said.
“But wrong decisions were taken; more should have been done; and from these failures, lessons must continue to be learned.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper vowed to “immediately act” on Lord Anderson’s findings.
She said in a written statement that officials would clarify Prevent thresholds in guidance for frontline workers, who have a duty to refer individuals to Prevent, so they understand that those fascinated with extreme violence or mass casualty attacks should be referred to the counter-terror programme.
This work would be completed by the end of September, Ms Cooper added.
Read more from Sky News:
How Prevent tackles young extremism after 7/7 bombings
Sir David’s family ‘betrayed’ as govt refuse inquiry
Officers describe confronting ‘coward’ Southport killer
Sir David’s family were left “deeply upset” and “frankly offended” by the way Lord Anderson’s report has been handled by the Home Office, said Radd Seiger, the adviser and spokesman for the family.
He said the family were given “next to no notice” of the timing or advance sight of the report published on Wednesday, but received a “dismissive” letter from the Home Secretary, which he said was designed to “protect the Government following its failings” and not support them.
