RACE EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Department/Agency: Development
Division/Branch: HAAR/Social Housing Division
BACKGROUND TO FUNCTION/POLICY/STRATEGY ETC:
What is the purpose of the proposed policy (or changes to be made to the policy)?
1. The National Accommodation Strategy for Sex Offenders (NASSO) provides a new national framework for the accommodation of sex offenders in the community. It has public safety at its heart and forms part of an extensive package of Scottish Executive reforms to the criminal justice system, which strengthen the provisions for the management of sex offenders in Scotland.
2. The NASSO is not new policy. Nonetheless, since it builds upon and strengthens existing practice through the introduction of improvements in the approach to the accommodation and management of sex offenders, it was considered that it should be subjected to a race equality impact assessment. These improvements, which are set out in detail in the NASSO, include:
- Integration of housing agencies into the delivery of the strengthened provisions for managing sex offenders under the Management of Offenders etc. (Scotland) Act 2005;
- Introduction, under the 2005 Act, of a 'Duty to Co-operate' on key agencies, including local authority housing services and registered social landlords (RSLs);
- Clarification of the housing contribution to the management of the risk posed by sex offenders;
- Specification of the responsibilities of all of the key agencies involved in respect of their role in the accommodation of sex offenders;
- Introduction of a standard approach at local authority level for coordination of the housing role and contribution, to ensure consistent practice across the country. This includes the introduction of the strategic role of Sex Offender Liaison Officer within local authority areas and the Link Officer role within RSLs;
- Tightened practice in relation to early planning for the accommodation of offenders on release from custody, and the effective management and monitoring of cross-boundary placements of sex offenders; and
- Reinforcement of delivery through future 'thematic' inspections of key agencies.
Who is affected by the policy or who is intended to benefit from the proposed policy and how?
3. As a whole, communities across Scotland will benefit from joined up, inter-agency working between housing providers and the statutory "responsible authorities" involved in the risk assessment and ongoing risk management of sex offenders. The NASSO affects all public bodies and other agencies with responsibility for managing sex offenders, most notably the responsible authorities and other agencies with a duty to co-operate under the Management of Offenders etc Scotland Act 2005. It is aimed particularly at, and is essential reading for, Elected Board Members, Chief Executives and Directors of Local Authorities and registered social landlords (RSLs). Front line housing practitioners will benefit from a more clearly defined role within which they will contribute to the effective management and minimisation of risk of sex offenders to communities. More specifically, the roles and responsibilities of the other responsible authorities such as the Police, Scottish Prison Service (SPS), Criminal Justice Social Work (CJSW) and NHS Scotland will also be clarified in relation to the accommodation of sex offenders. The NASSO is part of a wider sex offender strategy and MAPPA (multi-agency public protection arrangements) which will:
3.1 Reduce (though not eliminate) risk to individual citizens, particularly children and vulnerable adults;
3.2 Improve sex-offender management - stable housing arrangements and effective monitoring contributes to the successful rehabilitation of the offender and to reduced re-offending and helps reduce risk to the sex offender from disclosure and vigilantism.
How have, or will you, put policy into practice, and who is/will be responsible for it?
4. The NASSO will come into play as part of some of the wider provisions of the MoO etc Scotland Act 2005, which will take effect from 2 April 2007. It will be delivered primarily through a Sex Offender Liaison Officer function within local authorities and through Link Officer arrangements with RSLs. Both will be required to operate within the framework of the NASSO under the Duty to Co-operate aspect of the MoO etc Scotland Act 2005 and as part of the wider MAPPA. On a more practical note, joint training of housing practitioners, police, criminal justice social work and prison staff in the operational aspects of the strategy will be carried out by the Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland (CIH), with funding from the Executive.
How does the policy fit into our wider aims or related policy initiatives?
5. The NASSO is one element of the revised guidance on multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) that the Scottish Executive Justice Department issued to local authorities and other agencies on 13 March 2007. It is part of a wider Executive strategy on sex offending developed and implemented in conjunction with partner agencies which is aimed at protecting communities and improving public safety.
EVIDENCE
What evidence are you aware of on the needs of minority ethnic communities in this policy area and have you referred to it?
6. We are not aware of any evidence to suggest that the accommodation needs of sex offenders of black or minority ethnic (BME) origin are, or require to be, addressed any differently to sex offenders applying for housing who do not originate from a BME background. The NASSO highlights the legal requirement that social landlords must ensure that all tenants are treated equally irrespective of their sex, marital status, age, race, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability or religion. Section 106 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 states that:
· Scottish Ministers and local authorities must exercise their functions under the Act in a manner, which encourages equal opportunities and in particular the observance of the equal opportunity requirements; and
· in providing housing accommodation and related services, Registered Social Landlords must act in a manner which encourages equal opportunities and, in particular, the observance of the equal opportunity requirements.
The Scottish Prisons Service is mindful of religious or race issues and would in respect of prisoners being prepared for release take any special considerations into account when preparing the community integration plan, including the need for the use of interpreters etc. Similarly, the police and local authorities would also be mindful and have protocols or arrangements in place from both the offender and victim perspective.
Have you considered what evidence and information is available on the possible impact that this policy change might have on race equality?
7. We have not uncovered any research that specifically details housing trends amongst sex offenders from a BME background, or that examines the experience of communities containing high numbers of BME individuals where sex offenders have been accommodated.
Based on the evidence and information available, does or could the policy impact differently on different ethnic or racial groups?
8. Provided social landlords comply with the legislative provisions in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, it is hard to envisage how the effects of the strategy would impact differently on different ethnic or racial groups.
Could this policy have an adverse impact on any particular group?
9. We are not aware of any group on which the strategy would have an adverse effect.
Does this have or potentially have a high, medium or low impact on race equality?
10. Low.
CONSULTATION
Whom have you consulted in the impact of the policy or proposed policy on race equality?
11. The strategy was developed by a multi-agency working group and joint work with CoSLA, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA), the Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland (CIH), the Association of Directors of Social Work (ADSW), the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPOS), the Scottish Prisons Service (SPS) and Safeguarding Communities Reducing Re-offending (SACRO) (a specialist housing provider). Soundings were also taken by these representative bodies of their wider membership and views were fed back to the Executive and the working group. The Scottish Parliament's Justice 2 Sub-Committee had the opportunity to scrutinise the NASSO and to take evidence, as part of its review on child sex offending which reported in December 2006. A full public consultation was not carried out as the strategy does not represent new policy. Local authorities and RSLs already house sex offenders, operating under many of the provisions set out in the strategy. What the NASSO (combined with the wider reforms) will do is to improve public protection by tightening existing practice.
Did they include people who could be (potentially) directly affected by this policy?
12. They included all the criminal justice and housing agencies that are responsible for managing the risk posed by sex offenders released into the community.
What was the outcome of the consultation and has this been published?
13. The completed NASSO takes account of constructive views and feedback from the wider membership of these representative bodies. It also takes account of the deliberations and findings of the Scottish Parliament Justice 2 Committee's report on its review of child sex offenders which was published in December 2006 and which heard detailed evidence from all agencies involved in working with sex offenders, including local government and the RSL sector.
14. The NASSO is one element of the revised guidance on multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) that the Scottish Executive Justice Department issued to local authorities and other agencies on 13 March 2007. The revised MAPPA guidance includes the new Duty to Co-operate introduced under the Management of Offenders (Scotland) Act 2005. The NASSO supports, and is part of, that duty. The new arrangements, including the NASSO, are effective from 2 April 2007. The NASSO is not a one off exercise and will continue to evolve in the light of experience and good practice.
ACTIONS
If adverse or potential adverse impact is identified, what action will you now take to remedy this (NB - if high impact, a fuller impact assessment MUST be undertaken)?
15. Provided social landlords comply with the legislative requirements of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, no adverse impact on BME groups is envisaged. This compliance is subject to inspection by Communities Scotland (see below).
Who will be responsible for this action?
16. N/A
When will this be done?
17. N/A
OUTCOMES
What are they intended outcomes?
18. The intended outcome of the NASSO is effective management of sex offenders in Scotland to make communities safer places to live and work. Public protection is at its heart and the protection of children is paramount. On a practical note, it is designed to give housing practitioners the tools to work more closely with the responsible authorities and be able to make use of better information-sharing protocols.
MONITORING
How will you monitor the impact of this policy?
19. The multi-agency Working Group, which has advised the Executive on the development of this strategy, will remain in place throughout 2007 to review and address any issues that may arise from the introduction and operation of the strategy. This will include monitoring of the strategy's interface with the wider reforms for managing sex offenders under the Management of Offenders etc. (Scotland) Act 2005. The Group will agree a monitoring framework for this purpose following the training of agencies and practitioners and receipt of feedback on the strategy.
Regulation and inspection
20. Communities Scotland, as the regulating body for the social housing sector in Scotland, will play a key role through its inspection framework in reinforcing effective delivery of the strategy and compliance with practice guidance. Communities Scotland will determine, in discussion with other inspectorates, the most effective way to review performance in the housing of offenders. This is expected to take the form of thematic inspections. Thematic inspections involve selecting a particular theme, client group or geographical area and inspecting a number of organisations on the same themed area, possibly in conjunction with other inspectorates. All of Communities Scotland's inspection reports are published and are available to all other relevant inspectorates and Community Justice Authorities.
21. The performance of social landlords in equalities issues is routinely inspected by Communities Scotland in the course of all of its inspection work, including in any themed inspections. In 2006, Communities Scotland published its second thematic study on Scottish social landlords' performance in equalities.
Development Department:
(Prepared December 2005 and updated in April 2007)