More than 20 people a day were referred to the Government's controversial anti-extremism Prevent programme according to latest figures - nearly half of them children.

The figures covering the year to the end of March 2016 showed about 7,500 people were referred to the scheme, with 54% of these relating to Islamic extremism.

They showed 610 of these, or 8%, were under 10, while 3,100 were under 18.

Simon Cole, the National Police Chiefs' Council lead for Prevent, defended the scheme against what he called "hysterical" criticism.

He said it was "absolutely fundamental" to Britain's counter-terrorism efforts - and not "a sort of spying operation".


Prevent has been described as heavy-handed and "toxic" by critics amid particular concerns about its application in schools, where teachers are now obliged to report suspected extremist behaviour.

March 2016: Concerns over 'Prevent' strategy

But the scheme has been credited with helping to disrupt more than 150 attempted journeys to conflicts in Iraq or Syria.

Mr Cole cited one case in which a young man in the Midlands had been persuaded not to travel to Syria while two of his friends did, and were killed.

He said the programme engaged with people not because they were suspected of terrorist offences but when they needed "help and support" - often linked to job or education opportunities or housing problems.

"That gets lost in all the noise," said Mr Cole, who is chief constable of Leicestershire Police, though he acknowledged that some communities were "very suspicious".

"It's sometimes presented in quite hysterical terms as part of a sort of spying operation.

"Actually it isn't that. It's quite mundane, almost."

Mr Cole said it was "really likely" people have been deterred from going on to commit terrorist offences following interventions from Prevent, though it was "hard to empirically demonstrate that".

Of the 7,500 referrals in the 2015-16 period, 10% were assessed as having a "counter-terrorism" vulnerability. In those cases intervention, such as with anti-radicalisation programme Channel, took place.

The figures showed 25% had a "non counter-terrorism vulnerability" and were referred to another agency, while in 37% of cases no action was taken. Some 28% of cases are ongoing.

Where an ideology was identified and recorded, more than half of referrals related to Islamist extremism and 8% to far-right ideology.

Since July last year, teachers have been legally obliged to report any suspected extremist behaviour to police as part of the Government's counter-terrorism strategy.

Some claim there have been too many cases of pupils wrongly referred to police for comments made during classroom discussions.

Critics include retired senior judge Baroness Butler-Sloss, as well as numerous Muslim faith and community leaders.