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Green light for disclosure plans
28/02/2010
Parents all across Scotland will soon be able to get access to information about known sex offenders who may be in contact with their children.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill today confirmed the Scottish Government will bring forward the timetable for rolling out a sex offender disclosure scheme, currently being trialled in Tayside.
The pilot will run until the end of May and a full evaluation will be published in August. The national roll out will begin soon after, ensuring that the lessons learned from Tayside are applied all over Scotland.
Fife Constabulary and Central Scotland Police have already indicated that they are keen to have the scheme running in their areas by the autumn.
Mr MacAskill said:
"Scotland is one of the leading countries in the world in terms of its approach to the management of sex offenders and we will continue to strengthen this approach.
"We have made progress in recent years to toughen up safeguards in place - such as strengthening measures to assess, manage and minimise the risks posed by sex offenders - but I am determined to go even further.
"The sex offender disclosure pilot currently operating in Tayside allows parents, carers and guardians to request information on a named individual who has regular unsupervised access to their child.
"Feedback I have received from Tayside is very positive - people are aware of it and concerned parents are approaching the police to request information. It provides yet another avenue to identify and address the risks posed to children by sex offenders, and empowers parents to address concerns about the safety of their children.
"Discussions are currently taking place with all of Scotland's police forces about how quickly we would be able to have the scheme up and running in their areas. However I fully expect the roll-out process to begin later this year and for all of Scotland to be covered in a matter of months thereafter - meaning that parents in every part of the country will get the extra reassurance that the disclosure scheme provides."
Assistant Chief Constable Iain Livingstone, who holds the Public Protection portfolio for the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS), said:
"The police service in Scotland welcomes the decision to bring forward the implementation of the sex offender disclosure scheme throughout Scotland.
"The 'Keeping Children Safe' pilot in Tayside has been a positive step which adds to existing child protection measures and increases the intelligence the police have in relation to monitoring sex offenders.
"The implementation throughout Scotland will increase our ability to protect children and other vulnerable members of the community."
Chief Supt Gordon Mackenzie, head of crime and specialist operations at Central Scotland Police, said:
"The protection of the most vulnerable in our communities and minimising the risks to children in particular are top level priorities for Central Scotland Police and the partners we work with in this area.
"Through the Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements, we seek to manage offenders in the community as effectively as possible, sharing information across partnerships, to maximise public safety.
"The community itself is a key partner and Central Scotland Police welcomes any measure which can be taken to prevent children from becoming victims of harm and which provides confidence and reassurance to the wider public about the steps taken to keep people safe."
Detective Superintendent Garry McEwan, Head of Crime Management at Fife Constabulary said:
"The broadening of the sex offender community disclosure scheme across the remaining Scottish Police Forces is a welcome and positive step. In respect of Fife Constabulary this approach naturally aligns itself to the composite and joined up public protection arrangements which Fife Constabulary is collectively pursuing with partner agencies as highlighted within the Force Policing Plan 2010-2011.
"We recognise that any measures which are put in place, which increases public confidence in this high risk area are to be welcomed. Along with our responsible authority partners, Fife Constabulary invests a great deal of its resources to ensure that we protect the most vulnerable in our communities and that we manage offenders in a manner that maximises all information sharing opportunities.
"This Sex Offender Community Disclosure Scheme will allow our local communities to have increased confidence in the work that we undertake on their behalf to ensure public safety. It will also give an additional reassurance that will allow any concerns to be raised and answered in a manner that can maximise community involvement."