Counter Terror Business - Building Security

High satisfaction within and towards SIA

Meghan Shaw — Fri, 30 May 2025 11:26:23 +0000

92 per cent of Security Industry Authority (SIA) employees are satisfied, according to the SIA’s annual independent satisfaction survey. This is a six per cent rise from 2023 (86 per cent), with satisfaction among employers also high, at 89 per cent. This is an increase from 85 per cent in 2023.

Conducted in January 2025, the survey involved 703 interviews with those who recently applied for a sIA licence and 95 interviews with employers who had recently submitted applications on behalf of their employees.

The survey revealed the main factors in high levels of satisfaction among individuals include the application process being simple and straightforward to manage, that licensing decisions are consistent, fair and, made within the expected time, and that applications are given clear instructions on what they need to do next to progress their application.

Employers reported the low effort required on their part, as well as the clear information provided by SIA through the application process, as reasons for high satisfaction.

A positive opinion of the SIA among individuals increased in line with satisfaction levels, which rose from 88 per cent in 2023 to 91 per cent.

Iestyn David, head of licensing and service delivery at the SIA, said: “Its incredibly encouraging to see customer satisfaction increase once again, among both individuals and employers, from the already high levels of satisfaction in last year’s survey.

“This demonstrates the success of our contract strategy initiatives and our ongoing work to improve the customer experience and the licensing journey. I am proud of all the hard work the team has put in over the last year, particularly in the context of the record application volumes we’ve been managing, and its great to see this recognised in such positive feedback from our customers.

Places of worship will be better protected from protests

Meghan Shaw — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 11:01:27 +0000

A new amendment in the government’s landmark Crime and Policing Bill will see that places of worship are better protected from threatening protests under new powers given to the police.

These changes will build on existing laws under the Public Order Act, which will provide a new limit for police officers to impose conditions on protests when they start to intimidate those attending a place of worship. Police will therefore have better clarity on how and when they can protect religious sites from the types of protest design to disrupt or harm them.

This follows concerns after recent protests near synagogues have caused the cancellation of events on the Sabbath, and have forced participants to stay home due to fears about travelling to their place of worship during large-scale demonstrations. Similarly, last summer’s violence following the Southport stabbings led Islamophobic thugs to damage, destroy, and threaten mosques across Southport, Hull, and Sunderland.

Religious hate crime in the UK continues to rise at a worrying rate, with police-recorded antisemitic hate crimes having soared by 113 per cent in the year ending March 2024, and anti-Muslim hate crimes having risen by 13 per cent.

Additionally, the �鶹�� Secretary has announced that the new offence for climbing on a war memorial will be extended to cover the new National Holocaust Memorial scheduled to be built next to Parliament in Victoria Tower Gardens.

The government is additionally providing up to £50 million to protect faith communities next year, including £18 million through the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant, £29.4 million through the Protective Security for Mosques scheme and for security at Muslim faith schools, and £3.5 million for places of worship and associated faith community centres of all other religions.

�鶹�� Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “The right to protest is a cornerstone of our democracy which must always be protected, but that doesn’t to include the right to intimidate or infringe on the fundamental freedoms of others.

“That’s why we are gibing the police stronger powers to prevent intimidating protests outside places of worship to ensure that people can pray in peace.”

Government to increase protection of universities

Robyn Quick — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 09:02:15 +0000

The government will launch a new consultation to protect UK universities from security threats.

Deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, announced his intention last week to launch a consultation on measures to protect UK universities from national security threats posed by foreign states.

Measures will also be focused on a small proportion of academic work, with a particular focus on research with potential dual uses in civilian and military life.

Dowden said the announcement is "not about erecting fences [but] about balancing evolving threats and protecting the integrity and security" of British universities.

The announcement was delivered during a security briefing with Vice Chancellors from 24 of the UK’s universities, including the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge and Imperial College London, and co-hosted by the Science and Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan.

It follows an internal government review of the national security threats facing the higher education sector, which concluded foreign states are targeting sensitive research.

The threat posed by foreign states was discussed by the director general of MI5 and chief executive officer of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) during a joint threat assessment. Vice Chancellors heard about the risks facing academia and ways institutions can protect leading research in partnership with the UK Government, benefitting academia and national security at the same time.

The consultation will explore proposals to protect cutting-edge technology under development in sensitive sectors that are being targeted by states stealing intellectual property to enhance their own economic and military capabilities. Due to launch this summer, the consultation will also consider measures to prevent institutions becoming dependent on foreign investment.

The scope of options under consideration includes exploring the feasibility of extending security clearance to key personnel within universities, funding options to develop research security capability within universities and supporting universities to make appropriate decisions on international research collaborations.

Vivienne Stern MBE, chief executive of Universities UK, said: "This consultation is an important next step, and we will gather views from all 142 universities in our membership to help Government develop the right approach, which allows us to balance the need to remain open to collaboration with the need to protect national and university interests."