Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 16
16
Accepted
Paragraph: 114
Publish Home Office response to ‘Operating with Impunity’ report by April 2024 deadline.
Recommendation
We find it surprising that the Government has not yet responded to the reports it commissioned from the Commission for Countering Extremism regarding hateful extremism, particularly the report ‘Operating with Impunity’ by Dame Sara Khan and Sir Mark Rowley. Sir John Saunders in his report in 2023 rightly said that the Home Office should respond as a matter of urgency. The Home Office must, without fail, publish its response to the report ‘Operating with Impunity’ by no later than the end of April 2024.
Government Response Summary
The government outlines several actions it has taken to strengthen its approach to tackling extremism, including reinforcing the CCE, changing Prevent Duty Guidance, and announcing a new definition of extremism which draws on the 'Operating with Impunity' report. However, it does not explicitly commit to publishing a formal response to the report by the requested April 2024 deadline.
Paragraph Reference:
114
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Home Secretary welcomed the report by Dame Sara Khan and Sir Mark Rowley on the challenges of tackling extremism. We take this matter seriously and have strengthened our approach through: (1) Reinforcing the role of the CCE; (2) Changing the Prevent Duty Guidance to stipulate the need to tackle environments that are permissive of extremism; (3) Strengthening the focus of Prevent on ideology, including through guidance, training and changing Prevent objectives. (4) Increased work across government to tackle antisemitism and blasphemy. Police already have the powers to arrest those who incite violence or racial hatred. The government, rightly, keeps this under review. On 14 March, DLUHC announced a new definition of extremism, alongside a set of cross-government engagement principles to be used by government departments and officials to ensure that they are not inadvertently providing a platform, funding or legitimacy to groups or individuals who attempt to advance extremist ideologies. The new definition draws on the work of Dame Sara Khan and Sir Mark Rowley’s 2021 ‘Operating with Impunity Report’.