ao link
Twitter
Facebook
Linked In
Twitter
Facebook
Linked In

You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles

Manchester association staff trained to spot radicalisation

Housing associations in Greater Manchester are rolling out anti-radicalisation training to frontline staff in the wake of last month’s terror attack in Manchester.

Linked InTwitterFacebookeCard
Sharelines

Manchester association staff trained to spot radicalisation

Jon Lord, chief executive of Bolton at Home, said the association would have a new IT package for this purpose “imminently” and that Greater Manchester Housing Providers (GMHP) would be discussing how best to co-operate on the issue at an upcoming meeting.

The package was provided by the police as part of the government’s Prevent strategy for anti-radicalisation.


READ MORE

How to spot domestic extremistsHow to spot domestic extremists
Manchester Council proposes £10m fund for 2,500 homesManchester Council proposes £10m fund for 2,500 homes

Co-operation between housing associations and counter-terrorism police consists of regular briefings from police on how best to spot the signs of radicalisation and a focus on sustaining community cohesion.

Mr Lord told Inside Housing that the aim was to be able to take a more connected approach.

“Rather than taking one trigger piece of information, you match that up and triangulate things,” he said.

“For example, somebody could be booking a flight to Syria, and so that in itself might raise a question. You then try and triangulate that with another piece of information that might suggest that there’s some sort of radicalisation going on.”

Mr Lord said GMHP would be looking to share best practice and to ensure that all members had signed up to the latest training.

Gareth Swarbrick, chair of the GMHP Crime and Disorder Group, explained that the North West Counter Terrorism Unit regularly briefs the group on “terrorism threat levels, radicalisation and how housing officers should share any concerns”.

In his capacity as chief executive of Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH), he added: “Locally all RBH frontline neighbourhood housing officers and enforcement officers have received training on Prevent and there are plans to roll this out to other frontline teams, including repairs [teams].”

In 2014, Mears Group and Adactus were part of a pilot scheme with Greater Manchester Police which trained frontline staff to combat extremism. Mears Group has since abandoned the programme.

Ashram Housing Association, now part of the Accord Group, received £150,000 from the government for the Prevent programme between 2009 and 2011, but it is not clear how long this continued.

 

Linked InTwitterFacebookeCard
Add New Comment
You must be logged in to comment.