EMBARGOED UNTIL TUESDAY 8 TH SEPTEMBER 2009 www.taxpayersalliance.com Council Spending Uncovered II No.5: THE PREVENT STRATEGY The Prevent Strategy is part of the Government’s response to the threat of terrorism from Islamist extremists. Aimed at stopping people from becoming terrorists, the Government has given Local Authorities money to fund projects administered by community groups, as well as giving out grants themselves directly. However, there have been ongoing concerns about the groups receiving funding and it has not been clear how taxpayers’ money has been spent. The TaxPayers’ Alliance has used Freedom of Information requests to compile the data that the Government was unable to give Paul Goodman MP earlier this year. So for the first time, spending on the Prevent Strategy is listed in detail to show how much each organisation received individually in the 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09 financial years. The key findings of this report are: Over £12 million has so far been given out by local authorities to fund community groups through Prevent projects. There has been insufficient monitoring of how Prevent money is spent, with the Government unsure of what groups Councils have disbursed money to. This paper managed to get more detailed information on local authorities’ Preventing Violent Extremism grants than that obtained by Paul Goodman MP through parliamentary questions. The TPA has been able to ascertain how much each organisation received, rather than the total amount each local authority received – an itemised account of PVE expenditure. Around £850,000 has been given to the Muslim Council of Britain’s official affiliates through different Prevent funding streams. Of the £38,000 initially allocated to the Cordoba Foundation, only £4,000 was withdrawn. This is despite the Cohesion Minister stating in Parliament that Tower Hamlets Council had terminated their agreement with them. 83 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0HW www.taxpayersalliance.com 0845 330 9554 (office hours) 07795 084 113 (24 hours) 1 Prevent’ is one strand within the broader ‘Contest’ strategy, the others being ‘Pursue’, ‘Protect’ and ‘Prepare’. The strategy has since been updated – the Government announced ‘Contest 2’ in March of this year – and the revised approach places a greater emphasis on the Prevent agenda. This spending is broken down in to different funding streams: The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) directly administer the Community Leadership Fund. They also funded other selected projects in the 2006-07 financial year. The Government have promised £45 million to local authorities over three years as ‘Preventing Violent Extremism’ (PVE) grants. PVE money is allocated to those Councils with Muslim populations of more than 5 per cent. Most of those Councils are in urban areas. In 2007-08, qualifying Councils received money through the ‘Pathfinder’ fund, and each local authority was then able to devise its own plan for how to use the money. Generally, third parties were invited to apply for funding by submitting project plans to the local authority, who then decided which projects to fund and therefore the organisations to administer them. In 2008-09 money was given to Councils in the form of Area-Based Grants and the money was not ring-fenced by Government. The freedom afforded to Councils means that they have spent the money in different ways. Some have set out three-year spending plans and others have not used any of their funding. Skilled policing and robust intelligence are the most effective ways of tackling violent extremism. Funding projects carried out by community groups is a method that is doomed to failure: It is unrealistic to expect Councils to know which groups are ‘moderate’ and therefore suitable for funding. The extent to which many community groups are possibly linked to extremist groups also makes it difficult for the Government or Councils to be aware of how they will use the money given to them. One way to mitigate this is to administer all projects directly, as Wandsworth Council did. It is difficult to keep track of grants once they have been disbursed; the Government’s delay in responding to Paul Goodman’s request demonstrates this. In Birmingham, the company funded to carry out a ‘capacity building and governance of Mosques’ project was Karl George Ltd – listed as a ‘motivational speaker’. 1 1 Karl, George Ltd, About Karl George http://www.karlgeorge.com/aboutus.aspx 83 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0HW www.taxpayersalliance.com 0845 330 9554 (office hours) 07795 084 113 (24 hours) 2 Our research suggests that these problems will not be solved by tweaking the Prevent scheme. Government and/or councils need to accept that there are serious flaws in the scheme and consider its abolition. This could be done in two ways: Scrap the Prevent Strategy: The scheme could be abolished at a national level by the Department for Communities and Local Government. Or, councils could follow the example set by Hammersmith and Fulham . Area-based grants are not ring-fenced so they do not have to be spent on Prevent community projects and can be used for other purposes as unrestricted funding for the council. Hammersmith and Fulham council did this with a £12,000 Prevent funding stream from the Department of Children, Schools and Families, which they simply moved into their general budget. Matthew Sinclair , Research Director at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Giving councils millions of pounds to dole out to hundreds of community groups clearly creates a massive risk that money will be wasted or finance groups hostile to Britain's liberal, democratic values. The Government has failed to avoid endorsing or funding radicals in the past and as such it's totally unrealistic to expect local councils to be able to assess which groups warrant funding. Grants to community groups aren't just risky though, they can also be divisive and wasteful. Politicians of all parties need to acknowledge that the approach has failed, cancel this programme and start focussing directly on stopping terrorists.” To arrange broadcast interviews, please contact: Susie Squire Political Director, The TaxPayers' Alliance [email protected] ; 07974 691 865 To discuss the research, please contact: Matthew Sinclair Research Director, The TaxPayers' Alliance [email protected] ; 07771 990 174 83 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0HW www.taxpayersalliance.com 0845 330 9554 (office hours) 07795 084 113 (24 hours) 3 Appendix A – Preventing Violent Extremism grants distributed by local authorities Council Organisation/ Name Project Total Expenditure Conflict of Notes interest 2007-08 2008-09 Aylesbury Vale Aylesbury College Prevent Programme Scoping Project - £5,000 Aylesbury Youth and Training Aylesbury Youth and Training Project - £15,000 Project Islah Islah Youth Project - £38,000 Milan Asian Women's Group Milan Prevent Workshops - £5,000 Aylesbury Vale District Council Employment of project manager, consultation, - £15,000 communications, staff training Barking and Barking Mosque - Fig Tree Films DVD Production and dissemination £11,100 - Dagenham Barking Mosque Presentations to schools on true meaning of Islam £2,500 - Barking Mosque Community events for Muslims and non-Muslims £27,785 - Barking Mosque - AKSAA Ltd Course on Islam for public sector staff in Barking & £2,708 - Dagenham Barking Mosque - Hakim Talk on prophetic medicine as a 'taster' session for £1,350 - Archuletta women's engagement Barking Mosque - Roots DVD of Muslim scholars addressing issues of Islam £5,000 - Distribution and extremism: deposit for production costs Barking Mosque - Somali Workshops for Muslim women to identify priorities £440 - Women's Association for action Young Foundation Young Muslim people developed as leaders via £10,000 - UpRising programme Barking Mosque - Roots DVD of Muslim scholars addressing issues of Islam - £5,500 Distribution and extremism: completion of production & dissemination Barking Mosque Equipment for boxing club to be used to attract - £1,800 young people to engage in positive activity and mentoring 4 83 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0HW www.taxpayersalliance.com 0845 330 9554 (office hours) 07795 084 113 (24 hours) Council Organisation/ Name Project Total Expenditure Conflict of Notes interest 2007-08 2008-09 AKSAA Ltd Programme of workshops for young Muslims to - £6,150 develop as role models #1 Barking Mosque Lunch for workshops for young Muslims #1 - £300 Barking Mosque Lunch for workshops for young Muslims #2 - £300 Headgame Mentoring for young people following workshops - £1,975 AKSAA Ltd Seminar for leaders of local Muslim communities - £4,100 Somali Women's Association Programme of workshops for Muslim women to - £2,100 build confidence in role of identifying and combating extremism & encourage greater civic engagement Somali Women's Association - Accredited ESOL programme for Muslim women to - £5,340 Barking and Dagenham Adult enable greater civic engagement College Barking Mosque - From Mecca to Rap workshops for young people at risk of - £5,100 Medina & Poetic Sisters extremism with anti-extremist message & YouTube upload Barking Mosque Lunch for rap workshops - £300 Goals Centre Kickball' - 5-a-side tournament to bring Muslims - £1,823 and non-Muslims together with motivational speaker Barking Mosque Kickball' - 5-a-side tournament to bring Muslims - £3,858 and non-Muslims together with motivational speaker - hire of venue - promotional and refreshments costs Barking