Scottish Government

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STATUS: - IMMEDIATE - ACTION REQUIRED

SECTIONS 10 AND 11 OF THE MANAGEMENT OF OFFENDERS ETC, (SCOTLAND) ACT 2005:-

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MULTI AGENCY PUBLIC PROTECTION ARRANGEMENTS (MAPPA) IN SCOTLAND

1. This is the second revision of Circular 15/2006 containing the MAPPA Guidance as developed by the lead agencies on the MAPPA Working Group and issued on behalf of the Tripartite Group.

2. For ease of reference, an Annex to this letter lists the amendments which have been made to the body of the guidance. These amendments take into account recommendations from previous reviews of high risk cases and developments arising from the ongoing work in the implementation of the various work streams flowing from the Executive's Sex Offender Strategy. The main additions are the inclusion of Parts 6 and 7 on the Duty to Cooperate and Information sharing between agencies. New Annexes on Risk Assessment and Management and Victims Issues have also been inserted.

Duty to Cooperate (Part 6)

3. A multi agency working group met on 4 occasions to define the generic roles and responsibilities of the agencies that will fall under the duty to cooperate. The group also agreed a set of principles and a model memorandum which will provide the basis under which local memorandums can be agreed between the responsible authorities and the duty to cooperate agencies. Those agencies are presently being defined within a Scottish Statutory Instrument which will come into force on 2 April 2007 to coincide with the introduction of the joint arrangements. Duty to cooperate agencies are asked to cascade this circular to local areas.

4. The agencies defined under the duty to cooperate include registered social landlords which might be involved in providing accommodation for the offender. The duty to cooperate is supported by the National Accommodation Strategy for Sex Offenders (NASSO) (Part 6 Duty to Cooperate - roles and responsibilities of housing providers). This strategy has been developed in partnership with housing providers, CoSLA, police, social work, the prison service and the voluntary sector. It sets out the roles and responsibilities of agencies involved in the accommodation and management of sex offenders and clarifies the relationships between statutory authorities and housing providers. The Executive will be providing additional resources from April 2007 to enable the staff roles and mechanisms necessary to deliver the strategy to be put in place. The Strategy will also be supported by practice guidance (which will follow shortly) on the housing of sex offenders, and training in the new procedures. Following current discussions with Cosla and SFHA, the Executive's Development Department will be writing shortly to local authorities and registered social landlords about the allocation of resources and the arrangements for bringing the Strategy into effect. Any enquiries about the NASSO should be directed to Pat.Tracey@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.

5. Electronic monitoring providers are included in recognition of the important service they provide in adding robustness to court orders and licence conditions.

6. The Principal Reporter to the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration has agreed to be included in the duty to cooperate. This reflects the importance of sharing information in those cases where a child has contact with an adult offender subject to the MAPPA or where the child is subject to the MAPPA by virtue of being prosecuted in the adult criminal justice system and falling within the categories of offender specified in section 10(1).

7. A final category defined as "persons providing services to, or on behalf of, a responsible authority in connection with the assessment and management of the risks posed" has been included and encompasses voluntary sector agencies, specialising in work with offenders. The range of services provided to offenders who pose risks might include, for example, intensive support and monitoring, residential facilities, supported flats and tenancies, services related to alcohol or drug misuse, group work programmes and employability support services.

Health Service

8. As well as being a responsible authority in respect of mentally disordered offenders, the Health Service is also under a duty to cooperate under section 10(12) of the Act in respect of offenders who are not classed as mentally disordered offenders. Work is underway with the Health Department to define the roles and responsibilities under the duty to cooperate and on the sharing of information. Guidance will be issued as soon as it is available, although it is understood that implementation groups in some areas have already engaged with Health partners to take this work forward.

9. Section 10(7) defines the "responsible authorities" who are required, by section 10(1), to work together to establish joint arrangements for the assessment and management of the risks posed by sex and violent offenders. One of the "responsible authorities" is the local authority. It is envisaged that the responsibility for working on the joint arrangements will lie primarily with the Chief Social Work Officer. However, other local authority services, such as education and housing services, will be required to cooperate in the implementation of this work to discharge the corporate responsibility under this function. Each local authority will need to make internal arrangements to ensure that this takes place effectively.

Contacts

10. The MAPPA implementation groups will be taking forward the work in developing the local memorandum and information sharing protocols in conjuction with agencies under the duty to co operate. A list of implementation group contacts is attached to this letter.

Information sharing (Part 7)

11. The duty to cooperate includes a requirement to exchange information and is critical to the operation of the multi agency arrangements. Part 7 of the guidance incorporates the Concordat on the Sharing of Information on Sex Offenders and the Guidance on the development of Protocols on Information Sharing. Whilst the duty to cooperate provides a legislative gateway for the exchange of information, for the memorandum under the duty to cooperate to work effectively it must be underpinned by the principles, standards and the agreed common definitions in the Concordat and, crucially to meet the requirements of Data Sharing legislation, by the development of information sharing protocols. In the development of the memorandum agencies are asked to establish new or review existing protocols to ensure that the criteria of the Concordat and the guidance are met.

Inclusion of Offenders within the MAPPA

12. The Commencement Order introducing the legislation for registered sex offenders will come into force on 2 April 2007. The provisions for violent offenders, mentally disordered offenders and other offenders who may pose a risk will be commenced at a later date. Whilst it will not be possible to ensure that every offender who falls within the legislation will have had their MAPPA level assessed by 2 April, Responsible Authorities must ensure that there are systematic arrangements in place for the review and inclusion of all offenders subject to the notification requirements under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and fall within the MAPPA.

Prisoners being released and subject to community disposals from 2 April

13. Whilst paragraph 12 recognises that the inclusion of all offenders will be a gradual process, responsible authorities must ensure that arrangements will be in place to receive referrals from the SPS for prisoners being released from the 2 April 2007 and offenders receiving community disposals whether subject to supervision or not.

14. Local authorities must ensure that all prisoners subject to supervision on release have an allocated supervising officer who is engaging with the SPS and other agencies in the pre release planning process. Offenders made subject to community disposals from 2 April 2007 require to have in place the appropriate arrangements for their management, as described in the guidance.

15. Police must ensure that the appropriate arrangements are in place for the management of those offenders for whom they will be the main responsible authority, as described in the guidance.

Referrals to MAPPA

16. A list of the appointed MAPPA coordinators is attached to this letter together with details of arrangements for referrals to those areas that do not presently have a coordinator in post.

Additions to the Guidance

17. It is planned to issue a third revision of the Guidance once further work of the MAPPA working group is completed. This will take into account where appropriate, recommendations from the Justice 2 Committee review of sex offenders, the forthcoming Home Office review of sex offenders and MAPPA arrangements in England and Wales. It will also include a section on the strategic management of the MAPPA including performance management and quality assurance.

Implementation Progress

18. A further implementation progress template will be sent to the implementation group contacts shortly. Further requests for progress will be made as implementation proceeds.

19. If you have any queries regarding this guidance, please address these to your representative on the MAPPA Working Group in the first instance. The contact details for members are provided below.

Sharon Grant

Community Justice Services Division