A report commissioned by the Home Office has said 95% of deradicalisation programmes delivered under the government’s controversial Prevent counter-terrorism strategy are ineffective.
The findings confirm what many in the Muslim community have been saying for years.
According to The Times, the study by the Behavioural Insights Team revealed failures in schools, youth centres, sports clubs and English language classes following an examination of 33 deradicalisation programmes across the country.
Until the BIT study the 33 projects claimed a success rate of 90 per cent because they evaluated themselves.
Prevent became statutory for schools, NHS trusts, universities prisons and local authorities in 2015 to report concerns about those at risk of extremism.
Muslim organisations, human rights groups, trade unions and academics have long argued that Prevent is a spying and monitoring exercise which mainly targets the Muslim community.
They say that Prevent relies on ill-defined nations of extremism and lacks transparency. Its budget, for example, is not made public.
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On the other hand, the government says that Prevent is about keeping British citizens safe from terrorists and that it is effective. However, that will probably be a lot harder to argue now.
