Social Work And Health Committee - 12/12/2011

At a MEETING of the SOCIAL WORK AND HEALTH COMMITTEE held at Dundee on 12th December, 2011.

Present:-

BAILIES

COUNCILLORS

Councillor Jim BARRIE, Convener, in the Chair.

The minute of meeting of this Committee of 28th November, 2011 was held as read.

Unless marked thus * all items stand delegated.

I REPORT ON ARRANGEMENTS FOR MANAGING HIGH RISK OFFENDERS

There was submitted Report No 535-2011 by the Director of Social Work summarising the fourth annual report on arrangements for managing high risk offenders across Tayside and covering the period 1st April, 2010 to 31st March, 2011.

The Management of Offenders etc (Scotland) Act 2005 introduced a statutory duty on responsible authorities - Local Authorities, Scottish Prison Service (SPS), Police and Health to establish joint arrangements for the assessment and management of the risk posed by certain offenders who posed a risk of harm to the public. The responsible authorities were required to keep the arrangements under review and publish an annual report.

The introduction of Multi-Agency Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) across Scotland in April 2007 introduced a consistent approach to the management of offenders. Within Scotland, the implementation of MAPPA had been phased and extended to registered sex offenders and restricted patients.

Restricted patients (RP's) were defined within Section 10, 11 (a) - (d) of the Management of Offenders etc (Scotland) Act 2005 as persons who, by virtue of their mental health, were confined for treatment under current Mental Health legislation.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the contents of the fourth annual report and the ongoing developments in relation to high risk offenders, including that:-

(a) whilst work continued on a national basis to agree the arrangements for violent offenders, partners locally continued to work co-operatively in relation to violent offenders holding risk management meetings where appropriate; and

(b) work was also continuing on a national basis for the completion of MAPPA 2011 Guidance which would become a living document and would be available on the Scottish Government website;

(ii) to conclude based on the figures provided, that MAPPA continued to work well across Tayside;

(iii) to note that MAPPA was part of the Protecting People framework for Dundee City;

(iv) to remit the Director of Social Work to inform the Committee of any developments in relation to violent offenders; and

(v) to remit the Director of Social Work to present such reports to Committee on an annual basis.

Jim BARRIE, Convener.