The treatment of autistic people who are referred to the government’s deradicalisation scheme could be in breach of equality laws, a human rights charity has claimed.
The home secretary has been warned that Prevent and Channel, the multi-agency follow-on programme, which seek to identify people at risk of extremism, are overreporting neurodivergent people.
In a pre-action letter to the Home Office, Rights & Security International (RSI) said it was “deeply concerned about a potential ongoing failure to collect and analyse data on the protected characteristics of those referred to Prevent and that this constitutes an ongoing failure to comply with their public sector equality duty”.
There are concerns that autistic people are being referred to the authorities because of a lack of healthcare provision.
The letter states that a 2021 internal Home Office analysis obtained under the Freedom of Information Act found that more than a quarter of those receiving deradicalisation support from the Channel programme had either been diagnosed or had a suspected diagnosis of autism. The Channel programme is for the most serious cases where there is a “genuine risk” of radicalisation.
Having obtained previously undisclosed equality impact assessments carried out in 2023, RSI is concerned that the government is not adequately addressing the risk of “overreporting” autistic people.
Sarah St Vincent, the executive director of RSI, said the documents suggest the government is taking a “casual and even careless approach” to understanding the impact of Prevent on autistic people.
“The government needs to seriously rethink its approach to the Prevent programme, and in the meantime, authorities need to properly monitor the programme’s equality impact,” she said.
RSI argues that the 2021 report, titled Autism Spectrum Condition: Support within the Channel Process, raises concerns about the potential discriminatory impact of the programme on autistic people.
The report said: “Survey findings indicate that an estimated 14% of Channel cases had diagnosed Autism Spectrum Condition. In 12% of cases Channel practitioners considered that someone might be autistic although they lacked the clinic diagnosis.”
In legal correspondence with RSI, the Home Office has indicated that data about the protected characteristics of referred persons is often not available. It said existing Prevent and Channel data does not allow for a comprehensive analysis of all protected characteristics of individuals referred.
RSI has argued that the failure to collect adequate data to support equality monitoring constitutes a breach of the home secretary and police’s public sector equality duty.
The duty is the requirement to have “due regard” to the equality objectives in section 149 of the Equality Act, which include the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who share protected characteristics and those who do not.
As part of its letter, the human rights organisation has asked for a formal alternative dispute resolution meeting to try to resolve its concerns.
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Jonathan Hall KC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, has voiced his concerns that a “staggeringly high” number of autistic people are referred to Prevent.
He has cited terrorism cases in which the defendants were autistic, including 17-year-old Lloyd Gunton, who declared himself an Islamic State soldier and was sentenced to life in prison for preparing a vehicle and knife attack in Cardiff in 2018.
Carolin Ott, a senior associate solicitor in Leigh Day’s human rights department, which represents RSI, said: “There is an ongoing debate about the appropriateness of the Prevent programme and its potentially disproportionate impact on minority groups. Our client believes that the data it has obtained bolsters its argument that the government needs to change its approach.”
Since coming into office last July, the government has introduced youth diversion orders and a new tsar to ensure Prevent, the official scheme to deter people from terrorism, is effective.
A Home Office spokesperson said the government was reviewing the Prevent programme in light of concerns over neurodivergence.
“We understand that those referred to Prevent often present with a range of vulnerabilities, and we take our safeguarding duties very seriously.
“That’s why the home secretary has already announced a strategic review to identify and drive improvements in how individuals referred into Prevent who are neurodivergent or suffer from mental ill-health are supported and managed, while keeping pace with the increasingly complex and evolving terrorist threat,” the spokesperson said.
