Prevent

Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council has a venue hire policy and supplementary guidance to ensure our venues are not used by speakers and groups who spread extremist narratives which could reasonably be linked to terrorism. We are keen to share our policy and supplementary guidance to support partners with a tool that may be useful in reducing permissive environments within the borough.

Venue hire guidance - advice and good practice for community venues

Some of the steps below may help to mitigate some of the risk of undesirable bookings. This information is not a definitive list and should be used in conjunction with other checking mechanisms that may already exist.

 Ask: What’s planned and who’s planning it:

1. Who is the individual or organisation booking the event or using the venue?
   • Ask for their name and any associated names they operate under
   • Ask for their address and a phone number
   • get details of the individual or organisation’s website and associated websites
2. Do they implement a policy that promotes equality and diversity and challenges all forms of discrimination? Or will they agree to subscribing to your equality and diversity policy for their event or time using the venue? Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council’s policy can be found here for reference: Equality and Diversity Policy
3. Ask for details of the event or planned work including:
   • Theme
   • Title
   • Agenda
   • Content
   • Speakers
   • Expected audience numbers and demographics
   • Details of how the event will be promoted (ask for copies of flyers/ posters, for example)
   • Is the event open to the public or invite only?  
   • If the customer is not a local resident, establish why they are holding an event in this area or needing to use the venue?

Check: Undertake due diligence to confirm what you’ve been told and find out more

1. Run a check on the individual/organisation/speakers by:
   • Viewing their websites, articles or speeches
   • Considering what other people are saying about them (articles/blogs, for example)
   • Check the government’s list of known terrorist groups: Proscribed terrorist groups or organisations (GOV.UK)
2. If a charity, check their number at charitycommission.gov.uk
3. Considering asking for a reference from a venue provider previously used by the individual/organisation, if the person/organisation hasn’t been used previously.
4. If you are still concerned with the answers provided by the customer, speak to your manager or contact the Leicestershire Police Prevent Team via  refer someone to the prevent team (leics.police.uk)

Decide

Do you let the event go ahead? If the booking is identified as controversial, then you need to consider who would be the relevant person in your organisation to make the final decision on whether to accept or cancel the booking. If accepted, do you still need to take any action to reduce the risks?

Last updated: 20/05/2025 10:01