National Accommodation Strategy for Sex Offenders (NASSO)
A number of expert reports on sex offending, including Reducing the Risk: Improving the Response to Sex Offending (the Cosgrove report), have endorsed the importance of stable accommodation for registered sex offenders and recommended the development of a National Accommodation Strategy to assist with the management of sex offenders in the community.
This strategy is part of the wider Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) in Scotland which came into force in 2007. The MAPPA was part of wider reforms to strengthen the provisions for managing sex offenders in Scotland under the Management of Offenders etc. (Scotland) Act 2005.
The NASSO was developed by a multi-agency working group led by the Scottish Government and is currently under review. The strategy also drew on research commissioned by the CIH and conducted by Glasgow and Sheffield Hallam Universities.
It covers all housing tenures across public and private housing and sets out the roles and responsibilities of local authorities, housing providers and other statutory agencies involved in the accommodation and management of sex offenders. It also sets out the requirements for information sharing with housing and accommodation providers. The NASSO aims to ensure proactive joint working between agencies across Scotland.
The NASSO is supported by practice guidance from the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) in Scotland. This guidance is aimed at housing providers and gives practical advice in managing the accommodation needs of sex offenders. This guidance will be revisited pending the outcome of the NASSO review, which is currently ongoing.
The NASSO Working Group oversaw the development of the NASSO and now continues to meet to monitor its implementation.