Offenders: Radicalism

(asked on 4th February 2020) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department’s news story entitled Tougher sentencing and monitoring in government overhaul of terrorism response, published on 21 January 20202, what plans she has to consult with (a) Muslim communities and (b) Muslim leaders on proposals for specially trained Imams to assess risk of and challenge the beliefs of radicalised offenders.


Answered by
Brandon Lewis Portrait
Brandon Lewis
This question was answered on 11th February 2020

The Government has formulated a combined response to the Member’s questions given the connected nature of the questions.

23 Chaplaincy Intervention Providers (IPs) were selected to deliver the Theological and Ideological Interventions (TII) Programme in prisons which launched in January 2019.

All were existing HMPPS Chaplaincy employees – recommended by HMPPS Counter-Terrorism specialist staff, and subject to Government vetting and due diligence checks. They are therefore not independent of government, but selected based on experience, knowledge and skills in challenging extremism.

Existing skills are supplemented with a diverse set of training; for example, in one-to-one interventions, theology, counter-narratives, and psychology. Training is delivered and reviewed in partnership with local Counter-Terrorism teams, and other practitioners working in complementary fields.

The recruitment of additional chaplains is kept under review to ensure needs are being met. We take continuous improvement seriously and consult community and academic partners wherever possible.

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