Tayside MAPPA Annual Report 2024-25
Perth and Kinross Council · 21 January 2026
Back to Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee — 21 January 2026 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Our vision is a Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality ___________________________________________________________________ Committee or Board: Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee Date of Meeting: 21 January 2026 Report Title: Tayside MAPPA Annual Report 2024 - 2025 Report Number: 26/20 Report Author: Nicola Rogerson, Service Manager – Community Justice Organisational Lead: Arun Singh, Strategic Lead – Children, Families and Justice 1. Purpose 1.1 The purpose of this report is to share the Tayside Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) Annual Report for 2024 - 2025 (Appendix 1). The report was approved by the Tayside Strategic Oversight Group (SOG) on 21 October, 2025 and subsequently published by the Scottish Government on 27 November, 2025. Furthermore, the report was tabled at the Perth and Kinross Community Justice Safety Partnership on 12 December, 2025 for noting. 1.2 Sections 1. Purpose 2. Recommendations 3. Background/Context 4. Conclusion 5. Impact Value Assessment 6. Appendices 2. Recommendations It is recommended that the Committee: 2.1 Takes assurance about the work being undertaken in respect of the MAPPA in Tayside, and specifically, in Perth and Kinross. 2.2 Endorses the contents of this report.
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2.3 Requests that the Strategic Lead for Children, Families and Justice bring back future annual reports to this committee. 3. Background/Context 3.1 The Management of Offenders etc. (Scotland) Act 2005 introduced a statutory duty on Responsible Authorities, ie local authorities, Scottish Prison Service, Police Scotland and health boards, to establish joint arrangements for the assessment and management of certain offenders who constitute a risk of harm to the public. The Responsible Authorities are required to keep these arrangements under review and publish an annual report. 3.2 MAPPA is a framework, established in Scotland in 2007, to manage risks posed by Registered Sex Offenders, Restricted Patients, and Category 3 offenders (those who are assessed as high or very high risk and requiring multi-agency management). Guidance is regularly reviewed by the Scottish Government and was last updated in 2022. 3.3 MAPPA is supported by the Violent and Sex Offender Register (ViSOR) which is a national IT system. The main function is to facilitate inter-agency communication and ensure that the Responsible Authorities contribute, share and store critical information for the management of MAPPA offenders. This system is due to be replaced in 2028 by the Multi Agency Public Protection System (MAPPS) which is a Home Office endorsed product that is intended to provide greater flexibility for information sharing and recording of information. The initial date for implementation was 2027, but as the development of MAPPS presented some challenges for local authorities, this date was subsequently revised. In Perth and Kinross (P&K), a project plan is being developed to ensure all factors are in place by the time of implementation. 3.4 Local MAPPA activity is overseen by the Tayside Strategic Oversight Group (SOG). The SOG not only provides oversight, but leadership in respect of policy and procedure, thereby ensuring robust governance, performance monitoring and quality assurance. The SOG meets quarterly and has a timetabled programme of activity to ensure there is appropriate scrutiny of inter-agency practice and take forward any learning both on a local basis and from national developments, eg Serious Case Reviews and legislative changes pertinent to MAPPA. At the end of this report’s reporting year, the Chair of the SOG was replaced. The new Chair is linked into the public protection agenda through their Chairmanship of the P&K Child and Adult Protection Committees and Public Protection Coordinators Group. 3.5 The Tayside MAPPA SOG members are also represented on their respective local public protection groups. In P&K, this includes the Protecting People Co-ordinating Group and Chief Officers Group. This ensures that there is a clear strategic link to both the MAPPA Co-ordinator and the Independent Chair of the SOG.
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MAPPA Annual Report 2024 - 2025 3.6 The report covers the period from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025. Given the change in the Chairmanship of the SOG, there has been some revisions to this year’s MAPPA report, with a focus on continuous improvement and strengthening partnership arrangements. There is also a drive to review our strategic plan and align this with national developments and priorities, one of which is equipping staff through targeted training to be confident and robust in their roles in risk management and rehabilitation. 3.7 The report outlines the origin and rationale for MAPPA, and the onboarding of offender groups during this period. Additionally, it highlights the statutory agencies involved and how these work together in offender management under MAPPA. 3.8 The report also outlines the roles within the respective responsible authorities within the MAPPA process. Specifically, it notes the level of training that they undergo to risk assess people subject to MAPPA, the joint working arrangements and the challenges presented when re-establishing someone in the community or the factors which must be considered about a person’s risk to others and themselves. 3.9 As of 31 March 2025, there were a noted increase of offenders across Tayside being managed in the community, the number in P&K being 145, and showing an increase of 18 people from the previous year. It is difficult to determine the reason for this increase, although it may be due to the courts addressing the backlog in sentencing. From this cohort of 145 offenders there were 4 at Level 2 (jointly managed by CJSW and Police Scotland) and no-one at MAPPA Category 3. During the reporting period, there were 3 offenders recalled to custody and 4 reported for breaching their licence conditions. 3.10 The report describes the work of the Tay Project, which is based in Dundee and services all sexual offenders across Tayside subject to a programme requirement as per their Community Payback Order. The model of programme delivery has changed due to evolving research and practice literature from the Moving Forward: Making Changes programme to the Moving Forward 2 Change programme. This has resulted in an accredited and endorsed programme by the Scottish Government, which is delivered, not only in the community, but in prison. Additionally, the report notes the use of Sexual Offences Prevention Orders for high-risk offenders which were subsequently replaced by Sexual Harm Prevention Orders in early 2023. In Tayside, there were 28 in place at the end of this reporting period, of which, 10 were P&K individuals, none have been subject to breach proceedings. 3.11 Since the previous Tayside MAPPA Annual report 2023-24 (Report No. 25/8 refers), activity has included a robust training calendar involving all three local authorities in Tayside (Perth and Kinross Council, Dundee City Council and Angus Council) and Police Scotland.
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The focus has been on information sharing and multi-agency decision making, including training for MAPPA Chairs. Self-evaluation activity has been a primary focus regarding MAPPA paperwork which has noted good working practice, information sharing and participation by MAPPA partners. There is however a recognition that managing people subject to MAPPA presents challenges and it is necessary to be proactive and respond to individual needs and circumstances as they evolve. 4. Conclusion 4.1 The management of risk in the MAPPA process presents many challenges and requires the collaboration and co-operation of agencies across professional organisational boundaries. While it is not possible to eliminate risk, the agencies within Tayside have continued to work collaboratively and sought to scrutinise and strengthen practice in this reporting year through the work of the subgroups and the oversight and leadership from the SOG. 4.2 This reporting year has seen a rise in the number of MAPPA cases which may be attributed to the activity of the courts in addressing the backlog of cases. While challenging, it has not impeded the ability to manage these individuals given the well-established collaborative working relationships between responsible authorities. The assistance of technology used during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions has continued which has helped to ensure a consistent commitment by partner agencies in contributing to the case management, planning and monitoring of those subject to MAPPA. 4.3 The change of SOG Chair has also brought a fresh approach to overseeing the operational and strategic direction of MAPPA in Tayside. Given their other Chairmanship roles in P&K, this provides an additional asset to risk management through oversight of the broad spectrum of public protection and risk management. 5. Impact Value Assessment 5.1 This report has been classified as being an operational report and as such does not require a full Impact and Value Assessment. 6. Appendices 6.1 Appendix 1: Tayside MAPPA Annual Report 2024 – 2025.