Home Office confirms Childline is receiving Prevent training

"CHILDLINE STAFF are being trained under the terms of the UK Government’s prevent strategy, which teaches public servants and members of the public how to identify potential terrorists and report them to the police."

"The revelation has raised fears among campaigners over the confidentiality and the quality of the Childline service, which is operated by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC). The service is expected to allow children to report on household abuse and other problems in confidence."

"The Prevent strategy is highly controversial due to its focus on the reporting of suspects, often on what critics claim are tenuous grounds. School teachers and university professors have protested against the strategy, which some feel requires them to spy and in some cases inform on their pupils."

"Speaking to CommonSpace, Childline initially denied that it was operating under the prevent strategy. An NSPCC spokesperson said: `Childline is an independent organisation, and is not operating under the Prevent strategy`..."

"However, the Home Office confirmed to CommonSpace that Childline staff are currently receiving training under the Prevent strategy..."

"Richard Haley of the civil rights organisation Scotland Against Criminalising Communities (Sacc) told CommonSpace that Prevent’s advice on how to detect ‘radicalised’ persons is so expansive that it includes indicators such as emotional state and physical appearance, making it unsuitable for a service such as Childline which deals with children and families in distress..."

"`If it works with Prevent, the NSPCC will be exploiting children to assist a police intelligence-gathering exercise and to put pressure on Muslim families to align their views with the government`..."

"The revelation comes after The Ferret reported in November that thousands of public sector workers were given training instructing them on how to identify members of the public who could be terrorists."

https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/9295/exclusive-childline-staff-receiving-controversial-prevent-anti-terrorism-training