Prevent
Article
The University has a number of legal obligations as a result of the Government’s Prevent strategy. The Prevent Duty was introduced into law by the Government in 2015 via the Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015.
This is how the Government describes the aim of the Prevent Strategy: ‘to reduce the threat to the UK from terrorism by stopping people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.’
The legal requirements have been in place since September 2015. Specific guidance on compliance has been issued for those working in education.
The guidance asks for a risk assessment and action plan and highlights the need to review areas such as policies and procedures for managing events on campus, use of IT equipment and support provided via student services.
When the new law was introduced, we reviewed our existing arrangements for such matters and believe that we already have robust procedures in place to comply with our statutory duties. We believe our policies and procedures comply with the legislation while ensuring our commitment to freedom of debate for all members of our community.
We remain in open dialogue with others including the Goldsmiths Students’ Union and the Office for Students on this matter. We publish our action plan in the interests of transparency.
