Section 26(1) of Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015 places a new statutory duty on “specified authorities”, including the governing bodies and the proprietors of “relevant higher education bodies” (RHEBs), to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism when exercising their functions.

This duty has become known as the Prevent duty and came into force on 18 September 2015.

Section 29 of CTSA requires that RHEBs have regard to the statutory guidance issued by the government when carrying  out the duty (both the Revised Prevent Duty Guidance: for England and Wales (which includes general guidance for all “specified authorities”) and the Prevent Duty Guidance: for higher education institutions in England and Wales (which gives  sector-specific guidance)).

Further information on the duty as it applies to the higher education sector in England is available at https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/student-wellbeing-and-protection/counter-terrorism-the-prevent-duty/. This webpage includes details on:

1. Who is covered by the duty?
2. How the Office for Student (OfS) monitors compliance with the duty through its monitoring framework.
3. How RHEBs must comply with the duty, including a non-statutory Advice note.

(Extract from Module 3: Section 1; The Prevent Duty in the context of other legislation and legal duties, Education UK)

For Information regarding Implementation of Prevent Duty at Empire College London,  please contact Lead Officer for Prevent: Waqas Riaz at waqas@empirecollegelondon.co.uk.