Report Detail

Background
The Purpose of this report is to inform the SPA Policing Performance Committee on Annual Assurance of operational Policing Matters – Prevent. The report will give assurances around the role of Prevent in safeguarding those at risk of becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.

Further detail

Introduction
Prevent is one strand of the UK Governments Counter Terrorism Strategy (CONTEST). It has three main strategic objectives:

• Tackle the causes of radicalisation and respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism.
• Safeguard and support those most at risk of radicalisation through early intervention, identifying them and offering support.
• Enable those who have already engaged in terrorism to disengage and rehabilitate

Prevent is a safeguarding strategy, like many others within public protection. The purpose of Prevent is, at its heart, to safeguard and support vulnerable people to stop them from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. Prevent work also extends to supporting the rehabilitation and disengagement of those already involved in terrorism. Prevent works in a similar way to programmes designed to safeguard people from gangs, drug abuse, and physical and sexual abuse. Success means an enhanced response to tackle the causes of radicalisation, in communities and online; continued effective support to those who are vulnerable to radicalisation; and disengagement from terrorist activities by those already engaged in or supporters of terrorism.

There are a number of indicators that someone may be vulnerable to radicalisation. Often these signs can relate to a person’s vulnerabilities and susceptibilities and often manifest in a change of that person’s behaviour. Some vulnerabilities that may make someone vulnerable to radicalisation are:

• Social isolation
• Mental Health issues
• Drug/Alcohol issues
• Low self esteem
• Need for identity/belonging

These vulnerabilities and Susceptibilities can make people at risk of becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. They may show changes in their behaviours. Some behaviours that are noted could be

• Change in language use/scripted speech
• Change in online use
• Becoming withdrawn from friends/family
• Developing a “them and us” narrative
• Change of physical appearance (tattoos or dress)

Prevent works in partnership with a number of statutory Partners and third sector agencies to safeguard and support individuals. The approach looks at wider factors that may have an impact on behaviours and actions. Prevent works upstream by identifying the root causes of behaviours and looks at providing early intervention to divert people away from a terrorism pathway.

Legislation

Section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 places a duty on certain bodies, listed in Schedule 6 to the Act, to have, in the exercise of their functions, “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”. This act therefore places a statutory obligation on these specified bodies to undertake the functions outlined under the Prevent strategy.
The specified bodies in Scotland are listed as Local Authorities, NHS, Higher and Further Education, Independent and Grant-aided schools, Scottish Prison Service and Police Scotland. Each specified authority has a Prevent SPOC who acts as the conduit of information between these specified authorities (Police Scotland’s is the Prevent Delivery Unit - PDU). It is essential that these specified authorities collaborate with each other in order to prevent people being drawn into terrorism.
Further information on the Prevent Duty Guidance can be found at:
Prevent duty guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Assurance on role of Prevent

All Prevent relevant concerns and referrals from Statutory and Policing partners are submitted to Police Scotland PDU and are deconflicted and triaged for assessment for support.

All Prevent referrals are assessed by the PDU using the Prevent Assessment Framework (PAF) for suitability for early intervention and support. Where Prevent relevant concerns requiring early intervention and support is identified the referral will progress to Prevent Case Management for support through the Prevent Multi Agency Panel (PMAP) or Police Led Partnership (PLP) route.

The PMAP is led by the local authority and is a consent-based process where partners will work together and create a support plan to ensure the threat risk and harm from potential terrorism is reduced and the subject is supported away from this pathway.

Further guidance on the PMAP process can be found at;
Prevent Multi-Agency Panel Duty Guidance: Protecting people vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism (publishing.service.gov.uk)

If concerns cannot be manged within the PMAP process then a Police Led Partnership is utilised to manage, mitigate risk and safeguard and support individuals through a case management plan.

Both routes use the basis of strong partnership working and utilise an early intervention-based approach to protecting vulnerable people and protect our communities from harm.

Prevent also works closely with partners within the Pursue strand of CONTEST and subjects under overt investigation have the same support provided under ‘route to interventions’ which allows support for those individuals from being drawn further into terrorism.

As of April 2026, the previous year’s data shows that 65%, of cases which were discussed at PMAP were adopted for Prevent support (This could be subject to change due to ongoing assessments, and annual data being published later in the year). This is higher than the national adoption rate compared to other CT regions within the UK.

Vulnerable people who consent to receive support in Scotland are less likely to be referred back to Prevent as the support and early intervention makes a positive impact to their lives and ensures that our public and communities are safe.

If there is no opportunity for Prevent intervention due to no Prevent relevancy, Cases not being adopted at PMAP or no consent being obtained Prevent will signpost into mainstream safeguarding mechanisms and other public protection processes to ensure vulnerable individuals and our communities are protected.

Further assurances are provided as part of the statutory obligations that fall on specified authorities who are required by Scottish Government to complete a self assessment every two years, assessing their delivery against Prevent duty benchmarks. These benchmarks are derived directly from the Prevent Duty Guidance for Scotland and outline the baseline criteria in line with statutory requirements in relation to governance, local risk assessment, referral pathways, training, and the management of permissive environments.

The purpose of this process is to provide Scottish Ministers with an enhanced level of assurance on CONTEST delivery across Scotland.

Subsequently in March 2026, after consultation with territorial divisions and SPA, the Police Scotland PDU collated a self-assessment on behalf of the force and SPA. The majority of the benchmarks were assessed as ‘met’, while one was ‘partially met’ due to an absence of policy around Police Led Partnership panels and processes regarding the deployment of the Desistance and Disengagement Programme Intervention Providers. However, work was already ongoing to implement such procedure and so it is expected this benchmark will be achieved in the coming year.

Follwing review, Scottish Governmnet concurred with Police Scotland’s self assessment on all but one aspect. With regard to ‘reducing permissive environments, they assessed Police Scotland ‘exceeded’ this benchmark.

An action plan has been developed by the Force’s Regional Prevent Coordinator in relation to the ‘partially met’ benchmark. Collaboration is already in place with Scottish Government, The Home Office and Counter Terrorism Policing Headquarters to progress this.

Conclusion

The PDU are one aspect of Policing who are responsible for delivering Police Scotland’s statutory Prevent duty, as outlined in the Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015. The PDU fulfil this obligation for Police Scotland by ensuring there is a collaborative approach through effective case management.

The PDU perform a number of functions under this duty, including Prevent Case Management (PCM), Prevent awareness raising, Prevent governance and collaboration with key stakeholders (including Local Authorities, Scottish Government, Home Office and OCCTU colleagues).

The PDU are involved in safeguarding vulnerable People and managing CT vulnerabilities and susceptibilities and this can be in a multi-agency environment or in the police Led Partnership space meetings to manage the individuals. Police Scotland PDU hold the Counter Terrorism Risk at all times during the Prevent process.
PCM is the most significant part of this workload. The regional PDU staff are trained Case Officers and maintain responsibility for all subjects managed within the Prevent process. PCM begins when a Prevent referral is received by the PDU (either from Police colleagues or partner agencies). This assessment process includes collating information from all police systems and all partner agencies who are duty bound to engage in the Prevent strategy.

When an individual is adopted into Prevent for safeguarding support, a multi-agency safeguarding support plan for that individual is created and regularly reviewed.
The support plan for each individual aims to reduce that person’s vulnerability and susceptibility to becoming a terrorist or supporting terrorism.
One of the unique support plan options available under Prevent safeguarding plans is the deployment of Home Office approved Intervention Providers (IP) to address the ideological concerns for each case.

The levels of risk presented by these individuals differs on a case-by-case basis. At all times, the PDU are constantly assessing the Counter Terrorism risk posed by the individuals in PCM and ensuring that the safeguarding or disruptive tactics are being deployed to mitigate these risks are proportionate.
PDU’s review and assess the risk and are responsible for managing and reviewing this risk and ensure the appropriate intelligence is acted upon to identify threat, risk and harm at the earliest point to ensure action is taken and there are no reputational impacts on the organisation.

Where the risks escalate Prevent ensure that escalation to Pursue is done to ensure effective management of risk.
PDU staff are responsible for raising awareness of Prevent. This is a vital part of the role as members of the public and partner agencies can only refer vulnerable people to Prevent if they know what the strategy is and how to refer their concerns. This is done in a number of ways, including liaison with local policing divisions, participation in local/national subgroups and the delivery of Prevent awareness inputs.

PDU staff are also heavily involved in collaborating with colleagues in the Scottish Government and Home Office. Contribution to national and local governance structures are a key part of ensuring compliance with the Prevent duty for Police Scotland.
PDU are the Prevent link in with other CT Pillars and attend meetings to ensure there is a collaborative approach to managing risk.

The self-assurance process is a measure that Police Scotland’s role in Prevent delivery has taken a partnership approach to identifying and addressing the risks of terrorism and reducing the threat to local communities.

Assurances are provided that safeguarding and protection of vulnerable people and communities is the ongoing priority and focus for Prevent.