Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism

This article is part of the Counter-Terrorism Portal project of Spinwatch.

The Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism (OSCT) is a directorate within the Home Office which leads work on counter-terrorism in the UK. It is part of the UK intelligence community. In April 2021 with little fanfare the OSCT became the Homeland Security Group within the Home Office.

As of October 2009, it reported to Home Secretary Alan Johnson and Minister of State Phil Woolas.

According to the Guardian, the OSCT is 'widely regarded in Whitehall as being an intelligence agency'. The Office's head, Charles Farr, is a former senior intelligence officer, as is another un-named senior officer. In 2010 the OSCT website stated (prior to the incoming Cameron government) that one of its official functions was to 'manage the Home Secretary’s statutory relationship with the Security Service'

Preventing Violent Extremism

The OSCT, for the year 2009-10, has a total funding of £8.5 million in relation to preventing violent extremism.

The OSCT in 2009-10 is providing £5.6 million of direct funding to the National Offender Management System in regards to a programme of preventing violent extremism and radicalisation. This programme, however, spans across the entire Contest 2 strategy.

The Youth Justice Board is in receipt of £3.5 of this £5.6 million and is delivering Prevent programmes through Youth Offending Teams.

The OSCT spent £600,000 on the Channel Programme in 2006-07 and has spent £1 million in 2008-09.

Responsibilities

Revised Prevent Strategy 2011

The 2011 Prevent strategy notes that the OSCT has responsibility for Prevent, Channel, CONTEST. . OSCT also developed the Workshop to Raise Awareness of Prevent.. the policy also notes that 'responsibility for coordinating the dialogue at a national level on terrorism with faith institutions and groups has been moved from DCLG to the OSCT'. 'Of the 321 new dedicated Prevent police officers in 2008, 80 were CTIOs (67 of whom were funded by OSCT), distributed across 42 forces.'

The role of CTIOs was to work alongside PEOs and neighbourhood policing teams, to inform and guide their community engagement and to determine how local police and partner resources should be focused to deal with any threats. 11.26 Using information in this way is a central, routine element of effective policing. Communities expect local police to act on the information that becomes available to deal with any risks. But the language used to describe this activity encouraged the view that the police may be engaged in covert (rather than overt) activity around Prevent which in turn undermined trust. To address these concerns, ACPO and OSCT ceased all future Prevent funding of CTIOs from the beginning of the 2011/12 financial year.

Responsibility for integration lay with DCLG.

Subsidiaries

• Research, Information and Communications Unit

People

• Charles Farr - head June 2007 until December 2015.
• Tom Hurd - successor, in post January 2016 until April 2021.