What is Prevent?
The Prevent Duty, which came into force on 18 September 2015, is the statutory obligation on certain bodies, including universities, to “have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”. Please see the Universities Prevent Duty here.
A Prevent-related concern might arise where a student makes radicalised comments in an online chat, or in social media posts. For example, a student might offer approval of terrorist activity or express extremist political views. Such views might be associated with faith-based extremism, animal rights, far right movements or other forms of violent extremism and potential terrorism.
For more information on Prevent, click here.
More information for staff can be found at: Prevent Duty : Birmingham City University (bcu.ac.uk)
What support is available for Prevent related concerns?
If you have any questions relating to Prevent, please email wellbeing@bcu.ac.uk in the first instance.
Please note this email address is NOT to be used for raising safeguarding or Prevent-related concerns in relation to students, staff or third parties - in those situations Report and Support must be used.
If you are a student and have been affected by a Prevent related concern, you can speak to the University Mental Health & Wellbeing Team, who have trained advisors to support students at BCU. The Mental Health & Wellbeing team are available Monday-Friday 9am-5pm.
If you are a member of staff, you can contact People and Culture, your HR partner will be able to identify the support that’s available for you. Staff members can also utilise the Employee Assistance Programme.
Reporting Prevent concerns
You should raise Prevent-related concerns via Report and Support.
If there appears to be an imminent risk of harm to the student or others in relation to Prevent (e.g. a student indicates an imminent intention to commit an extremist violent act), you should call 999 and ask for the police.