Recommendation SP36: Sharing information about closed Prevent referrals
From The Southport Inquiry Report: Phase 1, published 13 April 2026.
Recommendation
Counter Terrorism Policing Headquarters and the Home Office should assess and issue clear guidance on best practice for sharing appropriate information about closed Prevent referrals. This guidance should ensure that relevant professional agencies outside Counter Terrorism Policing, including local police and referring bodies, are notified of a closure and provided with relevant feedback, unless strong legal or other case specific risk grounds justify non-disclosure.
In brief (written by this site)
In July 2026, HM Government stated that Counter Terrorism Policing was scoping the legal implications of routinely sharing information about closed Prevent referrals (Home Office response, Jul 2026). In the same July 2026 response, it noted that joint work with the Home Office following the Below Thresholds Pilot would inform national minimum notification requirements, to be incorporated into updated Channel duty guidance due in autumn 2026 (Home Office response, Jul 2026). The record holds no update since the government's response of July 2026 (Home Office response, Jul 2026).
Sources
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
Government response
The Home Office and CTP are working together to deliver this recommendation. Progress to date:
- CTP are scoping the legal implications of routinely sharing information to relevant agencies about closed Prevent referrals.
- The Home Office and CTP are working closely following the Below Thresholds Pilot to determine the most effective way to notify relevant agencies about a Prevent referral that does not meet the threshold for Prevent support but may still need oversight and intervention from another agency.
Proposals include applying national minimum requirements for such making notifications, which will be incorporated in the Channel duty guidance update, due in autumn 2026.
Blanket government agreement does not establish acceptance or delivery by each addressee. Some response passages cover groups of recommendations.
Scope of the government response
The government's response to Phase 1 (CP 1623, 2 July 2026) agreed with all 67 recommendations in one sentence, and names only 39 of them individually. Where a recommendation is not named, the response shown is the passage the response gives for the group it belongs to (the recommendations for organisations outside central government, or the recommendations to policing bodies), which is not a response to that recommendation alone; the response does not list the members of any group. The 10 recommendations for Phase 2 of the Inquiry to consider show no response: the response introduces them (paragraph 20) but answers none of them. The government accepts the recommendations that are for central government to deliver. Where a recommendation is for an organisation outside central government, the government's agreement is not that organisation's acceptance.
Delivery
No statement on delivery from Counter Terrorism Policing has been found in the sources searched (last checked 2 July 2026). This is separate from the response above.
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- Home Office
Response