More than £2 million has been spent tackling extremism in the Black Country, including offering children and Muslim clerics special workshops and classes, it was revealed today.

Wolverhampton City Council has been given £443,122 over three years to take the lead on preventing young Muslims from developing violently extreme views.

The government’s Prevent agenda is costing £140m across the country with communities secretary John Denham promising it will not be used to snoop on Muslim communities.

One faith leader in the Black Country today said the “jury was out” on whether the special classes had any benefit, warning that they were in danger of distorting the truth.

Projects receiving funding include a planned inter-faith photography workshop for children in Whitmore Reans, Wolverhampton, next year as well as hosting seminars for all faiths on Islam and the Koran.

In Dudley a group of imams from mosques are being given extra English and computer classes.

Funding, from the government, has been in place for a year and has so far been used to run staff training sessions with the police and public sector bodies and to work with young people.

Between November 2009 and February 2010 schools in Wolverhampton will receive a government backed document with information on the threat from different extremist groups.

A total of 62 teenagers have taken part in sessions run with the Princes Trust and imams from mosques across the city.

West Midlands Police counter terrorism unit has also offered businesses the chance to use computer based simulations of terrorist attacks under a separately funded programme.

The report reads: “The threat from violent extremism is one that we all share and the solution requires and all-community response. Nevertheless we recognise that in the current threat context our Muslim communities could be particularly vulnerable.

“It is therefore imperative that we work closely with our Muslim communities and wider communities to formulate a proportionate and supportive response.”

The report states that the most vulnerable groups at risk from being targeted by extremists are men aged 18 to 35 but that women are increasingly at risk.

Council chiefs also cite young people who had previously had little knowledge of their faith and were exploring it for the first time as being susceptible.

Walsall has been allocated £595,122, Sandwell was allocated £145,000 last year, £193,292 this year and is set to get £193,000 in 2010-11 and Dudley will have £443,000.

Sehdev Bismal, president of the Wolverhampton Interfaith Council, said: “I think the jury is still out on how successful the Prevent programme will be. I think it needs to focus on teaching everyone about their differences in a positive way. It is not just Muslims who are capable of extremism.”