Multi Agency Public Protection (MAPPA) National Guidance 2014

Covering Letter MAPPA National Guidance 2014

20 June 2014

To all copyees as per Annex 1

SECTIONS 10 AND 11 OF THE MANAGEMENT OF OFFENDERS ETC. (SCOTLAND) ACT 2005. Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) National Guidance 2014

1. This letter accompanies the 2014 version of the MAPPA Guidance issued by Scottish Ministers under section 10(6) of the Management of Offenders etc. (Scotland) Act 2005. This Guidance has been developed by the Scottish Government in conjunction with the responsible authorities.

Responsibilities within the Scottish Government:

2. Lead responsibility within the Scottish Government for policy and guidance in relation to MAPPA and sex offenders lies with the Public Protection Unit (PPU) within the Safer Communities Directorate. The PPU works to ensure the delivery of public protection arrangements to protect communities from the risks posed by this category of offender. The PPU is responsible for maintaining the MAPPA guidance and for bringing forward proposals that would enhance the current arrangements.

3. Scottish Ministers have certain responsibilities under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 in respect of the scrutiny and oversight of the management of restricted patients in relation to the risk to the public. Officials in the Mental Health and Protection of Rights Division in the Scottish Government Directorate for Health and Social Care Integration will continue to exercise their responsibilities in support of Scottish Ministers and in addition will be responsible for maintaining information on the ViSOR system in respect of these patients.

Updates to the Guidance:

4. The structure and order of certain chapters has been amended from that in the 2012 version, but importantly, the context and meaning of the guidance remains unchanged.

5 The main development in the 2014 version is in the Document Set. The 'Basic Minute Template' from 2012 has been replaced with 3 new documents; a Minute template; Risk Assessment template; and a Risk Management and Contingency template. The 3 documents are supported by instruction notes on their completion.

6 The documents and supporting guidance have been developed in conjunction with a multi-agency sub-group of the FRAME Standards and Guidelines Group. This work was undertaken as part of a wider agreement with stakeholders to ensure consistency in risk assessment and management, and to address specific findings and recommendations from a number of significant case reviews.

7 It is recognised that in some areas the inclusion of the new documentation will require a change in how MAPPA is administered and as such will require a period of time to implement effectively. Therefore while these templates are being published now, the requirement to use them will not apply until December 2014. Work continues to develop training material for local delivery to ensure that all those involved in using the revised documentation receive the necessary training prior to use.

8 The local Strategic Oversight Groups are invited to encourage phased introduction of the documents in line with the timeframe agreed nationally. During this lead-in period, the PPU will request feedback on the documents and supporting guidance, to allow for any necessary revisions before they are fully implemented.

9 A full list of updates for this version is included in Annex 2.

Publication:

10 The MAPPA National Guidance 2014 will be published on the Scottish Government website at 14:00 hours on Friday 20^th June 2014. This replaces all other versions of the Guidance.

Contacts:

11 If you have any queries regarding the MAPPA Guidance, please contact Gus Macdonald at:

Elisabeth Campbell

ANNEX 1

Chief Constable
Directors of Social Work
Chief Executive, Scottish Prison Service, for Prison Governors
Chief Executives, Local Authorities
Directors of Housing/Community Services
Chief Social Work Officers
MAPPA Coordinators
Chairs of MAPPA Strategic Oversight Groups
Lead Officers for Throughcare
Chief Officers CJAs
Risk Management Authority
Parole Board, Executive
Parole & Life Sentence Division
Chief Executives, NHS Boards
Chief Executive, The State Hospitals Board for Scotland
Medical Directors [to cascade to Senior Health Records Managers, Caldicott Guardians and Data Protection Officers]
British Psychological Society, Scottish Division
Chief Executive, Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland
Chief Executive, NHS Education for Scotland
Chief Executive, NHS National Services Scotland
Chief Executive, NHS Quality Improvement Scotland
Crown Office
Director, Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland
Medical Director, Forensic Network
Responsible Medical Officers for restricted patients
Royal College of Nursing, Scottish Division
Royal College of Psychiatrists, Scottish Division
Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care

ANNEX 2

Summary of amendments from 2012 version

The first 7 chapters have been re-ordered and refreshed to better reflect the MAPPA process. Related information which was previously contained across several chapters has been brought together for ease of reference and to reduce duplication.