Local rise in referrals to counter-terror scheme

The number of people referred to a counter-terror scheme in York has gone up due to an increased willingness to report concerning behaviour, councillors heard.

A City of York Council meeting was told referrals to the Prevent programme had increased in the wake of the Southport attack and as awareness of extremist beliefs had spread.

York's Channel scheme - which provides local support to those referred to Prevent - had three active cases, according to the local authority.

"The number of referrals have increased massively, the amount of cases coming into Channel is the highest I've ever seen," said community safety lead Jane Mowat.

Councillors were told the rise could be attributed to a greater awareness of radicalisation following the murders of three girls at a dance class in Southport.

Axel Rudakubana, who also admitted attempting to murder 10 other people, was sentenced to a minimum of 52 years in jail.

Ms Mowat said the increasing willingness of people to report concerns was positive and followed an investment in training across York and North Yorkshire, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"The biggest change we've seen is a rise in the number of young people coming through since the pandemic," she said.

"Some of that's attributable to the isolation they were experiencing during lockdown and spending more time online."

The majority of the concerns involved "just kids been curious kids", the Channel panel lead said.

Many of the referrals in York were related to social media activity including sharing videos with extreme content, Ms Mowat said.

She added: "The beauty of the Prevent process is that they're not being put into the criminal justice system, it's about explaining that some things they've been discussing or doing are not necessarily appropriate."

Prevent referral figures for York were not included in the report, but North East referrals - which includes Yorkshire and the Humber - numbered 1,040 in 2023-4, down slightly from 1,042 referrals the previous year.

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