Home Office reply to our FOI on civil society groups

We received a reply from the Home Office to our request for information on the fifteen civil society groups supported by the government in “exploit[ing] the potential of the internet” to “rebut terrorist and extremist propaganda and offer alternative views”, as noted in the annual counter-terrorism strategy report.

The letter offers no information whatsoever on which groups are involved, what funding they have received and for what activities. As we’ve noted before, “If a major concern of the former strategy was the lack of transparency over Government funding of ‘community campaigns’”, the Home Office’s reply to our freedom of information request is unlikely to inspire confidence in the Prevent agenda and the Government’s engagement with Muslim groups.

We will submit another simpler FOI and hope this time the Home Office will agree that it is better to disclose this information than hide details from the public who are taxpayers.