WIREDGOV

HEFCE is consulting on its proposed approach to monitoring compliance with the new ‘Prevent’ duty in the higher education sector in England. The duty means that governors and proprietors of institutions must have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.

HEFCE will act as monitor on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. The consultation proposes a framework for determining whether providers are meeting their responsibilities, and for reporting back to Government [Note 1]. The duty, introduced by the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, came into force on 18 September 2015, and applies to a range of publicly funded universities and colleges and alternative providers [Note 2].

The statutory guidance supporting the duty requires providers to ensure they have robust policies and procedures in place to assess and mitigate the risks around external speakers and events, as well as appropriate IT policies, staff training and student welfare programmes [Note 3].

Alongside the consultation, HEFCE is asking providers who are not sure whether they will be subject to these new legal responsibilities to contact the HEFCE Prevent team to confirm whether they will fall under the monitoring framework [Note 4]. 

Notes

1. Read ‘The ‘Prevent’ duty: Consultation on a monitoring framework for the higher education sector’ (HEFCE 2015/22). The consultation will run from 22 September 2015 to 23 October. HEFCE will be running consultation events during this period. Information will shortly be available about these on the events page.
2. A full definition of providers who are subject to the duty is set out in Annex B of theconsultation document.
3. Relevant extracts of the statutory guidance are reproduced in Annex C of the consultation document.
4. Providers should contact the Prevent team at prevent@hefce.ac.uk.
5. Read more about the Prevent duty and HEFCE monitoring.