Police: Autism
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she is taking steps to improve the awareness of autistic characteristics in Prevent safeguarding training.
Answered by Home Office
Prevent conducted an internal strategic review of mental-health and neurodiversity (MHND) in 2025 to strengthen how individuals with mental ill-health, or who are neurodiverse, are supported and managed.
The review was designed to ensure that mental health and neurodiversity, including autism, are considered carefully and responsibly, without stigmatising individuals or implying any direct causal relationship between MHND and radicalisation risk.
Research has generally found no evidence there is a direct causal relationship between mental ill-health or neurodivergence and radicalisation risk in the general population.
In response to the review, operational guidance has been updated, and a new service is being piloted for psychologists to provide tailored advice to practitioners supporting people with mental ill-health or neurodivergence, including autism.
Since 2020, to further support the effective management of autistic individuals on Prevent programmes, the National Autistic Society has provided training to a range of front-line practitioners including all Channel Panel members and Intervention Providers. The course covers a basic introduction to autism, with a further course designed to understand autism in the context of radicalisation/extremism. This training is regularly reviewed and updated as required.
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