St Chad’s College is committed to safeguarding the welfare of its students and staff, and to meeting its duties under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act (CTSA) 2015 and the UK Government’s associated Prevent strategy. Section 26(i) of the Act places responsibility on the majority of UK Higher Education Institutions, including Durham University, to “have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”.

This is referred to as the ‘Prevent Duty’ and is summarised below in the text which ask that Governors read. Please also watch the video which follows.

The Prevent Duty and Safeguarding

The Prevent Duty aims to stop people from becoming involved in terrorist activities, or from being drawn into supporting terrorism and violent extremism. St Chad’s College considers the Prevent Duty as requiring a whole community approach and as a key part of its wider responsibility to the welfare of all members of its community; students, staff, temporary workers, visiting academics, and volunteers. We also strive that we get the balance right between being an open, diverse community in which we protect freedom of speech and academic freedom, and ensuring that this is not exploited.

All members of the University Community have an important part to play in safeguarding. Concerns that may fall within the scope of the Prevent Duty may first be noticed and raised as a welfare and/or mental health issue, and the College’s emphasis is first on providing vulnerable individuals with necessary support to help them before any crime is committed. The College has well-established procedures and support services in place to mitigate some of the factors which may drive involvement in criminal and extremist activity, and is also able to draw upon a diverse range of more informal student and staff faith and cultural networks at a University level, and the Students’ Union.

Prevent and Freedom of Expression

The CTSA makes clear that HEIs must balance their obligations under Prevent with their legal requirements to ensure freedom of expression and academic freedoms.

Durham University has a separate Code of Practice on Freedom of Expression, as does St Chad’s College.

How to Report a Concern

If you have a concern, it is important to follow the Notice – Check – Share procedure for sharing these concerns.

Notice

Are you concerned about someone? Perhaps you’ve noticed a change in behaviour; are they becoming withdrawn, or acting differently? Maybe it’s something the person has said that’s worrying you. Staff in front-line College and Department support roles will often be the first to notice if a student is experiencing difficulties, or colleagues if the person is a member of staff.

Check

Don’t ignore your concerns – check with others who may also have noticed something. You could speak to the person directly about their wellbeing; talk to a colleague or your line manager, or raise with your academic tutors or Head of Department, to check if they share your concerns.

Share

If you are still worried about the person, please see the Safeguarding Against Radicalisation: What to do in the event of a concern flowchart. The University will be able to offer support and guidance to the individual.

The Prevent Lead Contact is Rev David Rushton, College Chaplain at St Chad’s College. David can be contacted via email to chads.chaplain@durham.ac.uk.

A useful decision making flow-chart is also available below for reference.

Safeguarding from Radicalisation Reporting Flowchart

Compliance

The original guidance on complying with the Prevent Duty, issued by the Home Office under the CTSA Act (2019), was revised in 2019. To see the revised Duty guidance, please see here.

Responsibility for monitoring compliance with the Prevent Duty is held by the Office for Students (OfS). Please see the OfS Compliance Framework for more information.