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415 under 10s referred for ‘deradicalisation’, BBC finds

According to figures obtained by the BBC in a freedom of information (FoI) request to the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), 415 children under the age of 10 were referred to the government’s deradicalision programme ‘Channel’. The ‘Channel’ scheme was set up following the 7 July London attacks, and focusses on steering people away from extremism. The FoI request revealed a total of 1,839 children aged 15 and under had been referred between January 2012 and December 2015. People were referred after concerns that they were at risk of radicalisation, including those at risk of right-wing extremism. Sally Bates, of the National Association of Head Teachers’ (NAHT), has cautioned it is important for teachers to be able to safeguard pupils from extremism and radicalisation. She added that in some cases, young children had seen inappropriate content such as beheading videos. Bates commented: "That does raise a number of concerns and that's where I can understand that referrals are then made from teachers." Regulations currently mean schools, prisons, the NHS and local authorities have a legal obligation knows as ‘Prevent Duty’ to identify individuals who might be vulnerable to extremist ideologies. The figures show that most of the referrals were made in November 2015, when the law was first introduced, suggesting it could partly be a reason for the increase in the number of referrals. John Hayes, security minister, said: "This is about safeguarding and it's working. This is about protection, this is about help, this is about providing all the support you need to make sure your children are safe."

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