The highest number of people on record were referred to the UK’s anti-extremism scheme in the year to March – with a 37% rise in right-wing extremism concerns, the latest data shows.
A total of 8,778 individuals were referred to the programme, the highest since records began in 2015.
That is a 27% increase from the previous year’s 6,922 referrals.
Prevent is the UK’s counter-terrorism programme that aims to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.
There was an increase in people referred for “extreme right-wing” concerns, as they accounted for 21% (1,798) – a 37% rise from 1,314 (19%) the year before.
That was higher than those related to “Islamist extremism”, which accounted for 10% (879) compared with 13% (913) the previous year.
The data shows the number of referrals for individuals with no ideology was by far the greatest share of all referrals (4,917), but these cases were less likely to be adopted by the panel – multi-agency groups that assess those who may be at risk of radicalisation.
Only 10% of 1,908 “no ideology” referrals were adopted compared with 34% (612) of “extreme right wing” and 27% (126) of those with a “fascination with extreme violence or mass casualty attacks (where no other ideology)”.
There were a total of 142 referrals to Prevent per million people across England and Wales.
When it came to regions, the West Midlands received the highest number of referrals per million people (176), while southeast England had the highest proportion of referrals (16% – 1,398).
The east of England had the lowest number of referrals per million people (93), accounting for 7% of all referrals.
Like every other year, the education sector made up the highest share of referrals, with 3,129 (36%).
However, this was a slight decrease from last year, when education made up 40% of referrals.
The second-highest share was from police forces (2,631; 30%), an increase of 37% compared with the previous year (1,921; 28%).
Referrals from local authorities had the largest percentage increase (54% from 582 to 895).
By contrast, referrals from the community and from friends and family were the only groups to show decreases, falling by 25% and 7% respectively.
Details on ethnicity were published for the first time.
Where referrals had ethnicity specified, 65% (2,747) were recorded as white, 19% (789) Asian, 8% (320) black and 8% (338) as other.
The data also shows a third (2,995) of Prevent referrals had at least one mental health or neurodiversity condition.
Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) was the most common condition recorded.
