Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA)
MAPPA provide a national framework in England and Wales for the assessment and management of the risk of serious harm posed by specified sexual and violent offenders (including young people) who are considered to pose a risk, or potential risk, of serious harm to children. The arrangements are statutory. Sections 325-327 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 require the police, prisons and probation services (the ‘Responsible Authority’) in each area to establish and monitor the arrangements. A number of other agencies – including children’s and adult’s social care services, health, housing, YOTs, Jobcentre Plus and electronic monitoring providers – are under a statutory duty to co-operate with the Responsible Authority in this work.
National MAPPA Guidance (2009) further develops processes particularly with regard to young people who pose a risk and the role of YOTs.
MAPPA’s focus is on specified sexual and violent offenders in, and returning to, the community, and its aims are to:
• ensure more comprehensive risk assessments are completed, taking advantage of co-ordinated information sharing across the agencies; and • share information, assess and manage risk and direct the available resources to best protect the public from serious harm.
Offenders eligible for MAPPA are identified and information is gathered/shared about them across relevant agencies. The extent to which they pose a risk of serious harm is assessed and a risk management plan is implemented to protect the public.
Each area has a MAPPA Strategic Management Board (SMB) attended by senior representatives of each of the responsible authority and duty to co-operate agencies, plus two lay advisers. It is SMB’s role to ensure that the MAPPA are working effectively and to establish and maintain working relationships with the Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs).
Identifying MAPPA eligible 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 (in relation to murder or offences specified in schedule 15 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003). 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.
Sharing of relevant information
Exchange of information is essential for effective public protection. The MAPPA guidance details how MAPPA agencies may/should exchange information among themselves to better manage offenders. It also explains why and how information may be disclosed to those not involved in the MAPPA management of the offender. The expectation is that information on offenders will be disclosed to others – for example, partners, employers, schools – where this is required to manage the risks posed by the offenders.
ViSOR is a national database which currently carries details of MAPPA eligible offenders and other potentially dangerous individuals. The police have been using ViSOR since 2005 and probation and prisons have had access since 2008-09. The benefit is that, for the first time, all three responsible authority agencies can access the same IT system, thus improving the quality and timeliness of risk assessments and of interventions to prevent offending.
Assessment of the risk of serious harm
The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) assesses risk of serious harm using the Offender Assessment System (OASys) supplemented by additional assessment procedures, depending on the nature of the offending and the specific risks identified. The Youth Justice Board uses ASSET for under-18-year-olds. The levels of risk are as follows:
• low: current evidence does not indicate likelihood of causing serious harm; • medium: identifiable indicators of risk of serious harm. The offender has the potential to cause serious harm, but is unlikely to do so unless there is a change in circumstances, for example, failure to take medication, loss of accommodation, relationship breakdown, drug or alcohol misuse; • high: identifiable indicators of risk of serious harm. The potential event could happen at any time, and the impact would be serious; • very high: an imminent risk of serious harm. The potential event is more likely than not to happen imminently, and the impact to be serious.
Risk is categorised by reference to the potential subject of the harm. This includes children who may be vulnerable to harm of various kinds, including violent or sexual behaviour, emotional harm or neglect. In this context, MAPPA works closely with LSCBs to ensure the best local joint arrangements can be made for any individual child being considered by either setting.
Managing risk of serious harm
In most cases, a MAPPA eligible offender will be managed without recourse to MAPPA meetings under the ordinary arrangements applied by the agency or agencies with supervisory responsibility. This will generally be the police for registered sexual offenders who are not on a licence to probation, and probation for violent offenders and those on a licence, but YOTs will lead with young offenders and Mental Health Services with those on hospital orders. A number of offenders, though, require active multi-agency management and their risk management plans will be formulated and monitored via multi-agency public protection (MAPP) meetings attended by various agencies.
There are 3 levels of management within the MAPPA framework, which are based upon the level of multi-agency co-operation required to implement the risk management plan effectively:
• Level 1 – Ordinary 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 ViSOR 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 MAPP meetings; and • 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.
Offenders will be moved up and down levels as appropriate.
YOTs have a duty to identify cases that meet MAPPA criteria and make appropriate referrals. However, the guidance emphasises that young people should be assessed and managed differently from adults, using age-appropriate assessment tools and always bearing in mind the need to safeguard the welfare of the young offender as well as to protect others from harm. Children’s social care services should always be represented at MAPPA meetings when a young person is being discussed.
This information has been taken from Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010.
Please click on the below link to view the MAPPA procedures.
MAPPA Guidance.pdf
