Introduction

The Government has today (18 July 2023) published a refresh of CONTEST, the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy, which is more than 20 years old. This follows the publication of a previous version in 2018, which ADS covered in a previous blog here.

Informed by the Independent Review of Prevent, the Manchester Arena Inquiry, Martyn’s Law, and the MI5 and Counter Terrorism Policing Operational Improvement Review, the 2023 publication updates the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy to reflect the current nature of the threat, which has seen a suppression of the most serious terrorist threats and a rebalancing of focus towards other areas of threat.

The terrorist threat predominantly continues to come from Islamist terrorism, with the remainder of the threat mostly emanating from Extreme Right-Wing Terrorism (ERWT). More widely, the UK faces a domestic terrorist threat that is harder to detect or predict. Finally, rapid technological developments are both complicating and strengthening the UK’s counter-terrorist efforts.

The framework for public-private sector collaboration

CONTEST 2023 is focused on developing an agile, integrated and aligned approach to counter-terrorism, while retaining the long-standing 4Ps framework (Prevent, Pursue, Protect and Prepare), which the Director General for Homeland Security in the Home Office will remain the lead official for.

Across these four pillars the strategy recognises the ongoing importance of industry to the UK’s counter-terrorism efforts, both in terms of minimising the risks that businesses and their customers face and in partnering with the Government, law enforcement agencies and intelligence services to develop advanced physical and digital capabilities to keep the public safe.

This is most notably demonstrated by the upcoming introduction of Martyn’s Law, which will introduce new security requirements for certain public venues. It has been an ongoing priority for ADS to facilitate engagement between the UK’s security and resilience sector, the Home Office and Counter Terrorism Policing, and wider private sector representatives on the practical implementation of Martyn’s Law and the widespread delivery of cost-efficient, effective security capabilities for public venues.

Throughout this process ADS has contributed to the development of the latest CONTEST publication, including via policy roundtables and submissions on protective security and counter-terrorism issues more widely.

CONTEST commitments

Under the Government’s existing plans to spend more than £3 billion per year on the UK’s counter-terrorism system, the strategy makes a number of commitments of relevance to industry, including that the Government will:

  • “[…] continue to invest in world-class forensic laboratories, which provide the police with the necessary capabilities to analyse evidence associated with a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or explosive event.”
  • “[…] will invest in data, analysis and technology capabilities [via the Counter Terrorism Operations Centre], building on and creating new partnerships to accelerate their enhancement, to ensure early detection of terrorism threats to the UK and our interests overseas.”
  • “[…] will work with UK airports to upgrade screening capabilities. The Next Generation Security Checkpoint programme will further enhance airports’ ability to detect threats and keep passengers safe.”
  • “[…] invest in our biometrics, detection and targeting capabilities to open new opportunities [via the Future Border and Immigration System programme] and allow us to realise a key opportunity of EU Exit by enabling exploitation of new advance goods data from the EU for counter-terrorism purposes.”
  • “[…] upgrade the existing radiological and nuclear border detection equipment, continue to enhance screening coverage at the border through Cyclamen and procure new detection equipment to upgrade the radiological and nuclear inland capability.”
  • “[…] continue to develop and maintain specialist capabilities to respond to low likelihood, high impact, and other national security threats. Informed by continuous assessment of the chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threat, this will include reviewing and enhancing the specialist response, and ensuring the emergency services are equipped to mitigate the impacts of such attacks. This joins an ongoing review of bomb disposal capabilities.”
  • “[…] pilot local resilience reform by 2025 and implement changes nationally by 2030. This will strengthen Local Resilience Forum leadership, accountability, and the integration of resilience, including counter-terrorism, across local policy making.”

Next steps for ADS

ADS will continue to work closely with its partners across the Home Office, including the Joint Security and Resilience Centre and via the Security and Resilience Growth Partnership more directly with the Security Minister, to support the delivery of CONTEST. ADS’s priority will continue to be facilitating public-private sector collaboration on the delivery of the cutting-edge security technologies, which our law enforcement and intelligence agencies require for the UK’s national security, public safety and prosperity.