Preventing violent extremism

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has announced a package of measures responding to calls from Muslim communities to support the promotion of citizenship and shared values and to stop Islamic theology being abused by those who seek to divide communities.

She said that a clear understanding of faith, open debate and discussion are key to building communities which are resilient to violent extremism.

The Government has always been clear that communities must be at the centre of the response to violent extremism. Over the last year we have been working with communities and local authorities in developing their capacity to confront violent extremism effectively, marginalise and undermine those actively peddling these views and support vulnerable young people.

Today's announcement builds on this significant progress. A new report 'Preventing Violent Extremism: Next Steps for Communities' builds on the cross-government strategy published in June and outlines an ambitious new phase in our work with communities. This includes supporting increased take-up of citizenship teaching in mosque schools, strengthening theological understanding and a renewed focus on the importance of local council and community leadership.

The report outlines plans to: 

Establish a new independent board of academic and theological experts.

Muslim stakeholders have consistently expressed concerns about Islamic beliefs being misused by those seeking to promote extremism or reinforce certain cultural practices. They are equally clear that violence has no place in Islam and that Islamic theology can play a vital part in countering such teachings.

The Government has responded by working with Muslim communities to facilitate the establishment of an independent theological board who will be able to advise on these issues and share their findings with the wider Muslim community.

Cambridge University will be commissioned to establish a board of around 20 leading Muslim scholars and community representatives.

The board will examine issues relating to Islam in a modern context and how that fits with being a citizen in the UK. The membership of the board will reflect the diversity if Islam and Muslim communities in the UK. Seminars will be held over the coming months to discuss a broad range of issues including citizenship, identity and gender.
The content of these discussions, research findings and reports will be disseminated to a wider audience, helping to strengthen young people's understanding of their faith.

Citizenship teaching in mosque schools

A significant number of young Muslim people attend mosque schools regularly to receive traditional Qur'anic teaching. Building on pioneering work within Muslim communities, the Government has supported an independent educational organisation - the Schools Development and Support Agency - to work with scholars, educational experts and mosque school teachers to develop new citizenship materials and training packages for mosque schools.

These resources will be taught alongside or as part of traditional lessons with the focus on demonstrating to young British Muslims that their faith is compatible with shared values and with being a British citizen; undermining the violent extremists' argument that there is a fundamental conflict between the West and Islam, and being British and Muslim.

The new materials will be piloted in mosque schools in East London, West London, Leicester, Birmingham, Oldham/Rochdale, Bradford/Kirklees. Mosque teachers will be trained in using the new materials over the summer ready for use in October. 

A new group of community leaders to advise on local responses to tackling extremism.

Local Authorities have a central role in supporting communities and now see preventing extremism as a key part of their business. Many areas have fully grasped this agenda and are working closely with partners and their communities to develop innovative responses to the challenges it poses. For other authorities it remains a newer priority, we need to see more action from them and we will provide the support, training and guidance they require to do that.

We want to hear first hand what is happening on the PREVENT agenda in local areas, to be kept informed about the work underway, understand where we Government can provide more support and ensure that local authorities are clear about our priorities and expectations.

We will establish a Local Delivery Advisory Group comprising council leaders, chief executives, education advisers, community cohesion advisors and housing association representatives to ensure we continue to work closely on responding to the challenge.

Hazel Blears said: "We have made significant progress working with communities to build an alliance against violent extremists.

"We have a responsibility to ensure that our young people are equipped with the skills they need to stand up to violent extremists and help them understand how their faith is compatible with wider shared values.

"It is not for Government to dictate on matters of faith or religious teaching. But Muslim communities themselves have told us that stronger leadership is needed on what are often controversial issues."

"There are still some local authorities who know there is a problem in their local area but fight shy of it. This kind of challenge won't go away if we stick our head in the sand. It is important for civic representatives to take responsibility, starting with Chief Executive Officers and Leaders."

The report underlines the achievements that have been made but also outlines the further steps we must now take.

Over the last 15 months the Government have been taking forward a range of work to prevent violent extremism including: 

• The roll out of the £6m Preventing Extremism Pathfinder Fund which has supported over 200 grass-roots projects in over 70 priority areas. We are boosting that funding to enable local partnerships to step up this work and achieve greater impact - reaching £18m by 2010/11.
• The development of a Faith Community Development qualification which will provide faith leaders with the skills and capabilities to lead their communities.
• The roll-out of roadshows which enable leading scholars who emphasise that there is more that unites than divides us, taking on directly the extremists' narrative. 
• The establishment of the Young Muslims Advisory Group and the Muslim Womens Advisory Group, which will give these people a stronger voice and the capacity to shape the future of their communities.

Hazel Blears added: "Last summer we announced that £70m would be available for community-led work to tackle violent extremism. To support this work we have issued strengthened guidance to councils making clear they should only award funding to those groups who are actively taking a stand against violent extremism and promoting shared values such as tolerance and respect for the rule of law.

"Since this announcement the total funding available has increased to over £80m is available over the next three years. The additional investment will be retained centrally and support programmes centred on:

• Strengthening community leadership - particularly focusing on supporting those, including young people, who have links with some of the hardest to reach individuals. A key focus will be Empowering Muslim women and young people to play a more active leadership role and to encourage the emergence of new leaders from within communities including through a wide range of mentoring opportunities.
• Supporting local responses - we will step up our work to support and build the capacity of local partnerships including local authorities, police, community groups ensuring that they are equipped to develop responses to specific challenges in their own areas.
• Improve faith understanding and put long term measures in place to support faith leaders and institutions including the establishment of a theology board and support an Independent Review of the training of Muslim faith leaders.

This summer Hazel Blears will visit Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. The trip is intended to help deepen the Government's understanding of the strong links - particularly in faith issues - between those countries and their diaspora communities here in the UK.

The Communities Secretary will meet with Government Ministers in each country and discuss a wide range of issues including sharing experience of developing community led responses to tackling extremism alongside security responses. She will meet with those involved in religious training, community empowerment and cohesion issues, and women's and youth groups.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families is jointly supporting the programme to develop citizenship teaching in mosque schools as well as wider work to promote the role of education in building more cohesive and resilient communities.

Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls said: "Extremists of every persuasion tend to paint the world as black and white, accentuating division and difference, and exploiting fears based on ignorance or prejudice. Education can be a powerful tool in tackling this. Giving young people the opportunity to learn about different cultures and faiths, and - crucially - to gain an understanding of the values we share, will also help to build mutual respect and tolerance from an early age and create an environment where extremism cannot flourish."