Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the joint statement published by Prevent Watch on 27 July about the Commission for Countering Extremism’s "evidence drive"; and how they intend to respond to the concerns raised in the statement.

The Government has made no assessment of the statement by Prevent Watch and has no plans to.

The Government’s 2015 Counter-Extremism Strategy sets out its commitment to protect communities from the wider social harms, beyond terrorism, caused by extremism. Extremists use their twisted narratives to justify hatred and division, spread intolerance, isolate communities and erode the rights of women and minorities. If left unchallenged these narratives fragment and divide our communities.

The Government launched the independent Commission for Countering Extremism in March 2018 alongside a Charter setting out the Commission’s purpose and early outputs. The Charter confirms both that the Commission will have no remit on counter-terrorism policies, including Prevent, and its status as a transparent organisation operating independently from Government.

The Commission’s weighting of the evidence it has gathered is a matter for the Commission.