Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the statutory guidance entitled Prevent duty guidance: for higher education institutions in England and Wales (2015), updated on 31 December 2023, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of that guidance on (a) academic research, (b) the number of students applying to higher education institutions, (c) students’ experience in higher education, (d) freedom of speech and (e) people with protected characteristics.

The updated and refreshed guidance places no additional burdens on the education sector. There are no new requirements as a result of the refresh or additional responsibilities for the sector. The guidance reinforces that settings should understand their Prevent duty requirements as part of their wider safeguarding and welfare responsibilities.

The Prevent duty should not limit academic research but encourage debate, challenge ideas and advance knowledge on contentious topics. The government has legislated to ensure that universities in England are a place where academics, students and visiting speakers can express a diverse range of views without fear of repercussion.

In the most recent published assessment by the Office for Students (OfS) on the implementation of the Prevent programme in the English higher education sector in 2019, they found no cause for concern that free speech was being undermined by Prevent in external speakers’ policies and their implementation. The assessment is available here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/prevent-review-meetings-programme-findings/.

Institutions should encourage students to respect other people with particular regard to the protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010 Institutions should also be mindful of their commitments to protecting freedom of speech, provided that the speech is lawful.

A full Equality Impact Assessment was undertaken in line with responsibilities under the Public Sector Equality Duty. The Home Office commissioned an independent research agency to conduct in-depth research with frontline staff, particularly those with Prevent-specific responsibilities, across the key sectors of education, healthcare, local authorities, police and prisons & probation, to make sure that the new guidance is as robust as possible. This consultation covered England and Wales.