Prevent Funding

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This article is part of the Counter-Terrorism Portal project of Spinwatch.

There are many components/institutions involved in the funding of the Prevent strand of CONTEST. These include, but are not limited to - the Home Office, including the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism (OSCT), the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and the Foreign Office.

Funding Streams

The major funding streams for PVE are: Challenge and Innovation Fund, the Community Leadership Fund (CLF) and Preventing Extremism Together, and the Preventing Violent Extremism Pathfinder Fund.

Prevent Funding issued by Government Departments

Department for Communities and Local Government

The DCLG has been responsible for the main strand of funding that has been provided to the task of Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE), or Prevent, as it is commonly referred to.

  • In 2007, the Preventing Violent Extremism Pathfinder Fund (PVEPF) was established by the DCLG and received funding for £6 million for 2007-08 to support seventy priority local authorities in England to advance a programme that would “tackle violent extremism at a local level.”[1] Click here to see which of the seventy councils received this funding
  • In June 2007, the DCLG also distributed £650,000 through the Community Leadership Fund (CLF) that would build the capacity of Muslims to fight extremism and complement the work being undertaken by local authorities under the PVEPF.[2]
  • On 31 October 2007, Hazel Blears (Secretary of State for the DCLG) announced that the DCLG would provide a total of £45 million worth of PVE funding for local partnerships from a period of April 2008 to March 2011.[3] The £45 million announced by Hazel Blears went to 76 local authorities in 2008-09; 82 local authorities in 2009-10; 94 local authorities in 2010-11.[4]
  • In August 2009, a £7.5 million cash injection was authorised by the DCLG to local authorities in order to enhance the struggle against “al-Qaeda influenced extremism” and to “improve effectiveness of the Prevent programme”.[5] A further £5.1 million is being distributed over the period of 2009-2011 through the CLF programme.[6]
  • Including smaller avenues of funding, the total money that the DCLG will have allocated to Preventing Violent Extremism from April 2007-11 is estimated to be £80 million, of which £61.7 million will have been through local authorities.[8]

Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism

  • The Prevent Central Unit in the Office for Security and Counterterrorism OSCT, for the year 2009-10, has total funding of £8,498,377.00.[9]
  • The OSCT in 2009-10 is providing £5.6 million of direct funding to the National Offender Management System for the purpose of that spans across the entire CONTEST strategy.[10] The Youth Justice Board is in receipt of £3.5 of this £5.6 million and is delivering Prevent programmes through Youth Offending Teams.[11]

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

  • The FCO has £400 million budget for 2008-2010 in relation to counter-terrorism.[13]
  • The Department for International Development and the British Council (under the control of the Foreign Office) are also involved in delivering projects overseas regarding the prevention of terrorism and prevention of violent extremism.[14]One such project involved sending the co-Director of the Quilliam Foundation, Ed Husain, to Cairo and Alexandria on an FCO funded trip entitled 'Projecting British Islam' from 7-11 July 2008 to 'build partnerships between prominent British Muslims and like-minded Egyptians to highlight positive messages about modern Islam and counterbalance the extremist ideology and narrative'.[15]
  • The FCO has provided £520,000 for an organisation called Deen International,[17] which is currently using the money in a project called ‘I am the West’. The aim of this project is to ensure that target audiences in Pakistan have “constructive debate[s] on the compatibility of liberal and Muslim values and understand that “the West is not ‘anti-Islamic, British society is not ‘anti-Islam’ and Muslims are integrated” into British society fully.[18]

See also

Notes

  1. Preventing Violent Extremism Pathfinder Fund: Guidance Notes for Government Offices and Local Authorities in England, Department for Communities and Local Government, 7 February 2007, p. 3 - accessed 17.11.09 - The actual figure mentioned in is £5 million to support an unknown number of local authorities from 2007-08. The £6 million figure is cited in the more recent Community Leadership Fund strategy, which also states that the funding will go to seventy local authorities – see Preventing Violent Extremism Community Leadership Fund.
  2. Preventing Violent Extremism: Community Leadership Fund, Department for Communities and Local Government, June 2007, p.3, accessed 17.11.09
  3. The Prevent Strategy: A Guide for Local Partners in England: Stopping People Becoming or Supporting Terrorists and Violent Extremists, HM Government, 3 June 2008, p.49, accessed 17.11.09
  4. Local Authorities Receiving Funding in Support of work to Prevent Violent Extremism, Department for Communities and Local Government, date unknown, accessed 18.03.10
  5. Local Authorities Receive Fresh Cash Injection to Tackle Extremism, Department for Communities and Local Government Press Release, 28 August 2009, accessed 17.11.09
  6. Hansard, Column 878W, House of Commons, 23 April 2009, accessed 17.11.09
  7. Challenge and Innovation Fund, Department for Communities and Local Government, date unknown, accessed 17.11.09 - For a list of all the local authorities in receipt of funding under the Challenge and Innovation Fund (including amount of funding awarded) see Results of the Challenge and Innovation Fund Bidding Round 2009/10
  8. Arun Kundnani,’Spooked: How Not to Prevent Violent Extremism’, October 2009, Institute of Race Relations, p. 11 – accessed 17.11.09
  9. J Fanshaw, Information Rights Team, Freedom of Information Request T9455/9, Letter to Ms Alice Kaerast from the Home Office, date unknown, accessed 18.03.10
  10. The Prevent Strategy: A Guide for Local Partners in England: Stopping People Becoming or Supporting Terrorists and Violent Extremists, HM Government, 3 June 2008, p.26, accessed 17.11.09
  11. The Prevent Strategy: A Guide for Local Partners in England: Stopping People Becoming or Supporting Terrorists and Violent Extremists, HM Government, 3 June 2008, p.26, accessed 17.11.09
  12. Hansard, Column 1376W House of Commons, 22 July 2008, accessed 18.11.09
  13. Arun Kundnani,’Spooked: How Not to Prevent Violent Extremism’, October 2009, Institute of Race Relations, p. 12 – accessed 17.11.09
  14. PM Gordon Brown National Security Statement Number10.gov.uk, 14 November 2007, accessed 19.11.09
  15. Freedom of Information Request 1121-09 - COPY OF PREVIOUSLY RELEASED INFORMATION. Ref 0967-08 Questions on the use of the Quilliam Foundation by the FCO in the last twelve months: FCO Visits by Quilliam Foundation and FCO funding for Quilliam Foundation - Release date of information: 22 January 2010
  16. Freedom of Information Request 1121-09 - COPY OF PREVIOUSLY RELEASED INFORMATION. Ref 0967-08 Questions on the use of the Quilliam Foundation by the FCO in the last twelve months: FCO Visits by Quilliam Foundation and FCO funding for Quilliam Foundation - Release date of information: 22 January 2010
  17. Arun Kundnani,’Spooked: How Not to Prevent Violent Extremism’, October 2009, Institute of Race Relations, p. 12 – accessed 17.11.09
  18. Project Synopsis: I am West, Deen International Ltd, p.3 date unknown, accessed 18.02.10