Guidance

Extremism and radicalisation (accessible version)

Updated 11 April 2024

Detention Services Order 01/2015

April 2024

Document details

• Process: To provide instructions and operational guidance on the correct procedures for raising concerns of extremism and radicalisation from detained individuals, in immigration removal centres (IRCs), pre-departure accommodation (PDA), short-term holding facilities (residential and non-residential) and during in- country and overseas escort.

• Publication date: April 2024

• Implementation date: February 2015 (reissued April 2024).

• Review date: April 2026.

• Version: 3.0.

Contains mandatory instructions

• For action: All Home Office staff and contracted service providers operating in immigration removal centres, pre-departure accommodation and short-term holding facilities (residential and non-residential), in addition to escorting officers.

• For information: n/a.

• Author and unit: Dean Foulkes, Detention Services.

• Owner: Detention Services Security Team (DSST).

• Contact point: Detention Services Orders Team.

• Processes affected: All processes relating to raising concerns of extremism and radicalisation within the immigration removal estate.

• Assumptions: All staff will have the necessary knowledge, training, and guidance to follow the procedures detailed within this DSO.

• Notes: n/a

Instruction

Introduction

1. This Detention Services Order (DSO) provides information and operational guidance for all Home Office staff and contracted service providers operating in immigration removal centres (IRCs), pre-departure accommodation (PDA) and short-term holding facilities (residential and non-residential), in addition to escorting staff. For the purpose of this DSO any references made to ‘centres’ applies to all of the facilities for which this DSO is applicable (stated above) unless specifically stated so.

2. This instruction does not apply to Residential Holding Rooms (RHRs).

3. Two different Home Office teams operate in IRCs:

• Detention Services Compliance team (Compliance team)

• Detention Engagement team (DET)

The Compliance team are responsible for all on-site commercial and contract monitoring work. The DETs interact with detained individuals face-to-face within the IRCs, on behalf of responsible officers within the removal centres.

They focus on communicating and engaging with people detained at IRCs, helping them to understand their cases and reasons for detention.

4. There are no DETs at residential and non-residential STHFs, or the Gatwick PDA. Functions which are the responsibility of the DET in STHFs (residential and non-residential) are carried out by the service provider and overseen by the International and Returns Services (IRS) Escorting Contract Monitoring Team (ECMT). In the Gatwick PDA, the role of engagement with detained individuals is covered by the local Compliance Team.

Purpose

5. This order will ensure that all staff within the Home Office immigration removal estate are aware of the processes to raise concerns of extremism or radicalisation regarding detained individuals in their care. This also encompasses concerns about those working, visiting, or in contact with detained individuals.

Procedures

6. All staff operating in the centres including Home Office staff, with concerns about extremism or radicalisation in relation to anyone they come into contact with in the course of their work, should submit a Security Information Report (SIR) to their relevant Security Department or designated Security Officer. This SIR must contain all relevant information regarding the individual(s) of concern, the reasons for reporting and surrounding circumstances.

7. All SIRs should be submitted within 24 hours of suspicious/extremist activity being identified. Counter Terrorism (CT) referrals should be uploaded to the Home Office Intelligence Management System (IMS) the same day as they are received, to prevent delays in CT colleagues obtaining this information. Once this information is noted on the SIR, these actions are closed off by the Security manager. DSO 11/2014 ‘Security Information Reports’ provides further guidance on the completion of and access to SIRs.

8. The contracted service providers’ Security Team must then follow the appropriate referral process as detailed below, and as laid out in more extensive guidance issued to Security Departments (which includes CT strategy and elements of CT training) by Detention Services Security Team (DSST). This guidance will be updated biannually by the DSST. CT referrals sent by the escort provider will not be side copied. Instead, referrals will be sent directly to DSST for processing.

The referral process

1. All staff complete the SIR.
2. Contracted service provider security team assesses and completes a CT referral. This is forwarded to the relevant Home Office Immigration Enforcement (HOIE) team (DS compliance team) within 24 hours. Where applicable, copies sent. Side copies are also sent to the CT PIO and Detention Services Security Team .
3. On receipt, the HOIE team uploads the information into IMS and submits.

Time Served Foreign National Offenders (TSFNOs)

9. Where a TSFNO (who has already been transferred from His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) to the immigration removal estate), is identified as being of potential CT concern/a national security risk, the Detention Services Detainee and Escorting Population Management Unit (DEPMU) will complete a movement notification document (locally referred to as Annex B), highlighting a summary of risks identified. They will then forward this document to the relevant IRC security team, so they are able to raise a CT referral upon receipt.

10. This procedure, however, is dependent on DEPMU firstly undertaking a risk assessment process prior to transfer, to establish whether the individual is suitable and can be accommodated within the immigration removal estate. Following this, DEPMU must receive assurance from the DSST that they are content that the individual can be transferred to the immigration removal estate, as they present minimal/low levels of risk. Upon this confirmation, DEPMU will share this risk information with the receiving IRC’s security team in advance of the transfer.

Management of Active Pathfinders

11. Pathfinder is a system utilised by HMPPS to monitor prisoners. During a time served risk assessment, should DEPMU identify Pathfinder wording whilst risk assessing an individual they would also normally expect to see further CT concerns or extremism. DEPMU would make further enquiries with HMPPS if required.

12. DEPMU will then incorporate the Annex B (referred to in paragraph 9 above), the CT referral process deemed suitable to enter the immigration estate from HMPPS and place them on to the CT register.

Revision history

Review date	Reviewed by	Review outcome	Next review
March 2017	K McDonnell	Rebranded and change to process to information sharing	March 2019
April 2019	J Andrews	General Update	April 2021
April 2024	A Sundaram	Updated to reflect: - the roll out of Home Office teams and individual responsibilities - the addition of TSFNOs of CT concern and management of active pathfinders sections - details outlining how CT referrals are uploaded	April 2026