Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has provided to local authorities (a) to help them understand the threat from extremism and (b) relating to statutory powers available to them to challenge extremist speakers.

This Government is committed to working with and supporting local authorities to defeat extremism. The Home Office is funding 42 local authorities to embed a network of Community Coordinators to lead work to counter extremism in priority areas. The Home Office has also supported Luton Council, Coventry University and the Local Government Agency to produce guidance on the tools available to local authorities to counter extremism – a key commitment of the Counter-Extremism Strategy. The guidance is supported by an online peer learning hub and has been developed through a local authority-led Special Interest Group on Countering Extremism. The group is chaired by elected members of Luton and Leeds Councils – both of which have a track record of countering extremism and supporting integration in their communities.

The 2015 Prevent Duty has also embedded consideration of the risk of radicalisation in the day-to-day work of frontline statutory partners. Statutory guidance outlines each sector’s responsibilities to “have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism” under the Duty - this includes consideration of their responsibilities regarding extremist speakers.