Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address religious extremism in faith schools.

All children must be safe wherever they are educated, and the department is committed to ensuring that children are safe from extremism and radicalisation.

The Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015 introduced a statutory duty for education providers to have 'due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism'. The full act is available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/6/contents. Faith schools are subject to the same duty and responsibilities as non-faith schools. To comply with the 'Prevent duty', providers must demonstrate that they have effective policies and procedures in place to safeguard individuals susceptible to radicalisation.

In addition, every school, including faith schools, should actively promote the ‘fundamental British values’ (FBVs) of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance for those of different faiths and beliefs. Promoting these values is a way of building pupils’ resilience to radicalisation and enabling them to identify and challenge extremist views.

The department has taken a number of steps to prevent extremism from gaining a foothold in our schools across the country, including:

• Guidance on the promotion of FBVs so that schools have a clear understanding of what is required and how best to practically deliver these.
• Powers to take action against individual teachers or governors who act in a way which undermines FBVs.
• Working with Ofsted to strengthen their inspection frameworks, requiring inspectors to assess how well schools protect pupils from the risks of extremism and radicalisation, and how they promote FBVs.
• A counter-extremism helpline and online referral form to ensure those working in the sector and the public can report extremism concerns directly to the department to be investigated where appropriate.
• The Educate Against Hate website, providing advice, support, and resources for parents, teachers, and school leaders to help them protect young people from extremism and radicalisation. The website is available here: https://www.educateagainsthate.com/resources/hackney-shared-values-toolkit/.
• Working closely with a network of Prevent Education Officers based in local authorities and the department’s Regional Prevent Coordinators who work directly with education settings and local authorities to implement the Prevent duty.

The department keeps its work under regular review to ensure we continue to provide effective support to the sector. This includes implementing the recommendations of the Independent Review of Prevent, which was published on the 8 February 2023. As part of this response, the government published updated statutory guidance for the Prevent duty in September 2023, providing further clarity and good practice for the education sector. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance.