Pursue

Pursue is the strand of the counter-terrorism workstream that aims to stop terrorist attacks in the UK and against our interests overseas. This is our most immediate priority.

Detecting and investigating 

Pursue will be based on detecting and investigating threats at the earliest possible stage.

The police, security and intelligence agencies will seek opportunities to disrupt terrorist activities before they endanger the public. Our preferred approach to disruption will continue to be the prosecution and conviction of terrorists in open court.

Powers to protect

The government will ensure that the police and security agencies have the powers they need to protect the public. But at the same time the Government will ensure that in countering the threats we face, we will preserve the fundamental values that terrorists seek to undermine.

The government has reviewed the most sensitive and controversial counter-terrorism and security powers, the recommendations of the review, once implemented, will do much to restore civil liberties.

Objectives of Pursue

In 2011-2015 we want to:

• continue to assess our counter-terrorism powers and ensure they are both effective and proportionate
• improve our ability to prosecute and deport people for terrorist-related offences
• increase our capabilities to detect, investigate and disrupt terrorist threats
• ensure that judicial proceedings in this country can better handle sensitive and secret material to serve the interests of both justice and
  national security
• work with other countries and multilateral organisations to enable us to better tackle the threats we face at their source

Justice and security consultation

On 19 October the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) published the justice and security green paper for consultation.

It responds to challenges to the way in which sensitive information is considered in the full range of civil proceedings. The green paper also examines the existing oversight arrangements for our security and intelligence agencies.

The work on the green paper has been a collaborative effort over the last year with Cabinet Office, MoJ, Home Office, Foreign Office and the security and intelligence agencies, in what is a highly complex area.

The consultation closed on 6 January 2012.

Further information

The Counter-terrorism strategy document in full

• Information about the Prevent workstream of the strategy
• Information about the Protect workstream of the strategy
• Information about the Prepare workstream of the strategy