The Commission for Countering Extremism, confirmed in the Queen’s Speech, will have a clear remit to identify extremism and advise the government on new policies, laws and other actions that may be required to tackle it. It will also support communities and the public sector to confront extremism wherever it exists and promote British values.

The commission will also help to train schools and colleges to spot the warning signs and stamp out extremism – as they have with racism. And because there is a strong correlation between extremism and the poor treatment of women and girls, the Commission will have a specific responsibility to ensure women’s rights are upheld.

The successful candidate for lead commissioner will advise the Home Secretary on the commission’s future role and shape and agree with the Home Secretary its priorities.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said:

This government is committed to tackling extremism in all its forms – as the Prime Minister said after the London Bridge attack earlier this year, enough is enough.

The new Commission for Countering Extremism will have a key role to play in this fight. It will identify and challenge tolerance of extremism, tackle extremist ideology and promote British values, learning the lessons from the struggle against racism in the twentieth century.

The Lead Commissioner will head up this vital work and I look forward to working with the successful candidate.

Notes to editors

This government is already making progress in tackling extremism. We have:

• Improved our understanding of extremism through the work of the Extremism Analysis Unit (EAU) – which has also helped disrupt extremist activity.
• Awarded funding and support for 90 civil society groups to tackle extremism via our £63 million ‘Building a Stronger Britain Together’ programme.
• Grown our network of community coordinators to develop our knowledge of extremism locally and identify and support groups challenging extremism. 28 are in post, with 42 roles expected to be filled. And we have produced, with local government partners, guidance for local authorities on the tools available to tackle extremism.
• Published – via a Written Ministerial Statement laid before Parliament – the main findings from the review into Islamist extremist funding and what government is doing in response to those findings.
• Published a new Hate Crime Action Plan (in July 2016). We are funding protective security measures for places of worship and innovative community-led projects to tackle hate crime. We have also taken steps to increase reporting of hate crime, and ensured the police are now recording hate crimes by the religion of the victim.
• Continued to act to prevent extremism from gaining a foothold in our schools, including through strengthening regulations to safeguard children missing from education (introduced in September 2016).
• Concluded independent reviews of integration and of Islamist extremism in prisons. In direct response to the latter’s recommendations, we have introduced prison separation units in to manage a small number of the highest risk prisoners away from the general prison population. HM Government will respond to the integration review in the coming months.
• Launched an independent review into the application of Sharia law. The Chair will submit her final report later this year.
• Introduced new powers – via the Digital Economy Act 2017 – which enable Ofcom to act quickly against community radio stations and Internet Protocol TV channels when they breach Ofcom’s content standards. We’ve also revised the UK’s Broadcasting Code to make clear that hate speech and derogatory content is not permitted.

An extra £24 million is to be pumped into counter-terrorism policing in the wake of this year’s terror attacks, Home Secretary Amber Rudd announced today.

The move comes as the investigation into Friday’s incident in Parsons Green continues.

The entirely new funding, which is in addition to £707 million already announced to support counter terrorism policing in 2017/18, will be used to bolster protective security measures in crowded places. This will include helping to protect the public from the specific threat of vehicles being used as weapons.

The extra funding will go to counter-terrorism police including the Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police to assist with their response to the threat of terrorism and help meet costs relating to the recent terrorist attacks.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said:

We have seen several devastating terrorist attacks in quick succession this year, most recently in Parsons Green, and the police have responded to this challenge outstandingly.

The threat we face from terrorism is becoming more complex and diverse.

That is why we are reviewing our counter-terrorism strategy to ensure the authorities have the powers they need to halt terrorist activity and why, today, I have announced £24 million of additional support for counter-terrorism policing this year.

I am grateful to the police, and security services, for all they are doing to keep us safe.

The new funding comes in addition to the government’s commitment to increase spending on counter-terrorism by 30%, from £11.7 billion to £15.1 billion. The government has also provided £144 million over the spending review period for a national uplift in armed policing capability and funding for an additional 1,900 officers at the security and intelligence agencies.

Official figures released by the Home Office last week show the highest number of arrests for terrorism related offences in a year since data collection began in 2001.

Notes to editors:

This government is providing £707 million to support counter-terrorism policing in 2017/18. This includes £633 million resource funding and £42 million capital funding in 2017-18.

In addition a further £32 million will be provided for armed policing from the police transformation fund in 2017-18 to support police as they transform how they work to meet the challenges of the future.

The £24 million announced today is in addition to this and is entirely new.