MULTI-AGENCY PUBLIC PROTECTION ARRANGEMENTS

The most effective way to manage and supervise potentially dangerous offenders in the community is for the relevant agencies to work together. This partnership work is directed and governed by the national Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA).

The MAPPA was created nationally on 1^st April 2001, when all Police and Probation Areas in England and Wales had a joint statutory responsibility to establish local Arrangements. Three years later the Prison Service was included within the Responsible Authority with the implementation of the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

Historically Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland has been amongst the leaders in the field of public protection partnership work. In 1998 - before the launch of MAPPA - Leicestershire Constabulary and the Leicestershire and Rutland Probation Area established the local Public Protection Panel.

The panel was created to provide an overview in the management of dangerous offenders. Three years later the original protection panel was further developed into the Multi-Agency Public Protection Panel (MAPPP). The Prison Service joined the local MAPPP before it became a statutory responsibility.

Because of the region's pioneering approach to partnership work, the posts of the MAPPA manager and administrator are paid for by all the contributing agencies, which have a ‘statutory duty to co-operate.'

The "Duty to Co-operate" agencies most involved in the MAPPA in this area are:

• Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust
• Leicester City Housing Dept
• Leicester City Children & Young Person's Service
• Leicester City Youth Offending Team
• Leicestershire Children & Young People's Service
• Leicestershire Youth Offending Service
• Rutland County Council, Social Services & Housing Dept.

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT BOARD

The work of the MAPPA is overseen and managed by the Strategic Management Board (SMB). The board membership is made up senior officers from the other partnership agencies, and two lay advisors represent the viewpoints of local communities.

The SMB meets at least quarterly to monitor the arrangements and direct any necessary improvements.

What is MAPPA?

• MAPPA are a set of arrangements to manage the risk posed by certain sexual and violent offenders. They bring together the Police, Probation and Prison Services in Leicestershire and Rutland into what is known as the MAPPA Responsible Authority.
• A number of other agencies are under a duty to co-operate with the Responsible Authority. These include: Children’s Services, Adult Social Services, Health Trusts and Authorities, Youth Offending Teams, local housing authorities and certain registered social landlords, Jobcentre Plus, and electronic monitoring providers.
• The purposes of MAPPA are:
  • to ensure more comprehensive risk assessments are completed, taking advantage of co-ordinated information sharing across the agencies;
  • and to direct the available resources to best protect the public from serious harm.

How do the MAPPA work?

• Offenders eligible for MAPPA are identified and information is gathered/shared about them across relevant agencies. The nature and level of the risk of harm they pose is assessed and a risk management plan is implemented to protect the public.
• In most cases, the offender will be managed under the ordinary arrangements applied by the agency or agencies with supervisory responsibility. A number of offenders, though, require active multi-agency management and their risk management plans will be formulated and monitored via MAPP meetings attended by various agencies.

Who are the MAPPA offenders?

There are three categories of offender eligible for MAPPA:

Registered Sexual Offenders (Category 1) - sexual offenders who are required to notify the police of their name, address and other personal details and notify any changes subsequently;

Violent Offenders (Category 2) – offenders sentenced to imprisonment/detention for 12 months or more, or detained under hospital orders. This category also includes a small number of sexual offenders who do not qualify for registration and offenders disqualified from working with children;and

Other Dangerous Offenders (Category 3) – offenders who do not qualify under categories 1 or 2 but who currently pose a risk of serious harm, there is a link between the offending and the risk posed, and they require active multi-agency management.

How are they managed?

There are 3 levels of management which are based upon the level of multi-agency co-operation required to implement the risk management plan effectively. Offenders will be moved up and down levels as appropriate:

Level 1 – Single Agency Management These offenders are subject to the usual management arrangements applied by whichever agency is supervising them. But this does not rule out information sharing between agencies, via the ViSOR database and other routes.

Level 2 - Active Multi-agency Management The risk management plans for these offenders require the active involvement of several agencies via regular multi-agency public protection (MAPP) meetings.

Level 3 - Active Multi-agency Management   As with level 2 but these cases additionally require the involvement of senior officers to authorise the use of special resources, such as police surveillance or specialised accommodation, and/or to provide ongoing senior management oversight.

What is the role of the Strategic Management Board?

• Senior representatives of each of the agencies involved in MAPPA form a strategic management board (SMB) which meets at least quarterly to monitor the arrangements and direct any necessary improvements.
• The SMB will measure effectiveness against new national MAPPA standards introduced in October 2007 in order to ensure a common standard of effective public protection arrangements and that each of the agencies is playing a full part in MAPPA.

What do the Lay Advisers do?

• The responsible authority is required to appoint 2 lay advisers to sit on the SMB. The lay advisers act as independent yet informed observers; able to pose questions which the professionals closely involved in the work might not think of asking. They also bring to the SMB their understanding and perspective of the local community – where they must reside or have strong links.

Leicestershire and Rutland MAPPA now has its own dedicated website - www.mappaleics.org.uk . This website provides a way for the general public to find out more about the work of our local MAPPA and the most current statistics.