MAPPA

These are the sixth MAPPA annual reports, and the first with a foreword by the Ministry of Justice. I want, first of all, to underline the Government’s continued commitment to these arrangements. Protecting the public from dangerous offenders is a core aim for the new Department. Just as the effectiveness of MAPPA locally depends on the quality of working relationships, we will work with the Home Office, the Police, and others, to develop the best possible framework within which the MAPPA can operate.

On 13 June, the Government published a Review of the Protection of Children from Sex Offenders. This sets out a programme of actions which include developing the use of drug treatment for sex offenders and piloting the use of compulsory polygraph testing as a risk management tool, enhancements to the regime operating at Approved Premises, and also a range of actions impacting directly upon the way the MAPPA work. I want to highlight two of them here.

Firstly, research tells us that the arrangements are already used successfully to disclose information about dangerous offenders but we think this can be improved upon. MAPPA agencies will be required to consider disclosure in every case. We will pilot a scheme where parents will be able to register a child-protection interest in a named individual with whom they have a personal relationship and who has regular unsupervised access to their child. If that person has convictions for child sex offences and the child is at risk, there will be a presumption that the offences will be disclosed to the parent.

Secondly, as MAPPA has developed over the past 6 years, best practice models have been identified which show that specific roles and approaches are required to ensure it is managed effectively. We are committed to strengthening MAPPA arrangements and ensuring that robust performance management is in place. To achieve this, we intend to introduce new national standards, which will ensure a consistent approach across Areas and we will be making available £1.2million to support Areas in implementing the standards.

We aim to do everything that can reasonably be done to protect people from known, dangerous offenders. We know that there is always room for improvement. I commend this annual report to you as an indication of the commitment, skills and achievements of the professionals, and lay advisers, in managing and monitoring this essential, often difficult area of business.

Maria Eagle MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Click this link to open a PDF version of the MAPPA Report 2007