15 Transfer of Channel Coordination from Police to Local Authorities PDF 81 KB
Minutes:
The Board considered a report by the
Director Enterprise, Community and Resources, which outlined the transfer of
Channel and Prevent responsibilities from the Police to local authorities’
responsibility. The Prevent Strategy
had been reviewed and revised in line with the Counter-Terrorism and Security
Act 2015. The Act placed a duty on specified authorities requiring them to have
due regard to preventing people from being drawn into terrorism. It also established a statutory responsibility
for every local authority to ensure they had an identified panel to assess the
vulnerability of identified individuals and put in place support plans, known
as ‘Channel Panels’.
Since
the establishment of the Channel Programme the responsibility for assessment
and case management had been held by the Police. However, in line with a broader aim to
position all Prevent activity closer to local communities and forging a
stronger link with local authority safeguarding activities, the Home Office had
indicated their desire to transfer many responsibilities from the Police to
local authorities.
In 2016, the
Home Office initiated the ‘Dovetail’ pilot to assess the feasibility of
transferring the resources and responsibility for administering the process and
case management aspects of Channel from the police to local authorities,
trialled initially in nine areas. The evaluation of the pilot was broadly
positive and the decision of the Home Office was to extend the transfer of
functions from the police to local authorities in more areas on a regional
basis, commencing in the North West. The intention was to implement a regional
model with funding being provided by the Home Office to resource the assessment
of referrals and management of cases by Local Authority Channel Coordinators.
An initial
consultation meeting was held in October 2017 with Channel Panel Chairs and
other local authority representatives on the options on the allocation of
Coordinators in the region, based on current referral and case activity, and
the expectations on local authorities to manage and recruit to these nationally
defined roles. For the Merseyside and
Cheshire part of the region a preferred option of a ‘Three-Hub Model’ was
identified on the day by the local authority representatives in attendance.
Consequently, discussion was held on possible management arrangements and the
expectation of hosting by one local authority in the area. It was considered
that, due to the level of existing resource and understanding already in place
on Prevent and Channel, Liverpool City Council was best positioned to host
these new roles, subject to clarity of hosting requirements, funding provision
and service level arrangements across the wider area.
It
was noted that work was currently being progressed to draw up job descriptions,
finalise funding and for the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism to
confirm the preferred model.
RESOLVED: That the report be noted.