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Probation

Answer

The Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements are a mechanism through which criminal justice agencies can better discharge their statutory responsibilities and protect the public in a co-ordinated manner. MAPPA is designed to protect the public, including previous victims of crime, from serious harm by sexual and violent offenders. MAPPA is not an agency or body in its own right but rather requires local agencies dealing with offenders to work together in partnership in order to manage risk. MAPPA does not commission or operate interventions or programmes and none is unique to offenders managed under MAPPA.

Approved Premises (formerly known as probation or bail hostels) are used to provide enhanced supervision for higher-risk offenders who have been released from prison after completing the custodial part of their sentence. They also house a small number of defendants on bail. Requiring higher-risk offenders to reside in an Approved Premises enables us to monitor and supervise them as effectively as possible. Whilst in an Approved Premises, they are subject to a curfew and other controls, whilst Approved Premises staff working closely with local police officers to respond quickly to any signs of escalating risk. It would be much more difficult to monitor them if they were dispersed into less suitable accommodation throughout the community.

Whether an offender is admitted to an Approved Premises depends on specific monitoring and risk management need. Not all offenders under MAPPA are admitted and not all offenders in Approved Premises are managed under MAPPA. The table below shows the number of offenders managed under MAPPA who were admitted to an Approved Premises in each month between September 2012 and August 2014 (the most recent for which we have full data). Data about offenders who were referred to APs but not admitted is not collected in a way that would allow us to distinguish those under MAPPA management.

No data is collected about the numbers of offenders who are required to undertake particular programmes or other interventions as part of the terms of their release licences. All offenders, whether or not managed under MAPPA, will undertake some interventions intended to address their offending behaviour and reduce re-offending. The choice of intervention will be tailored to the individual offender’s needs.

Admissions to Approved Premises September 2012 – August 2014

Month	MAPPA offenders admitted to Approved Premises
Sep 2012	776
Oct 2012	883
Nov 2012	950
Dec 2012	741
Jan 2013	799
Feb 2013	747
Mar 2103	828
Apr 2013	857
May 2013	931
Jun 2013	847
Jul 2013	963
Aug 2013	901
Sep 2013	911
Oct 2013	837
Nov 2013	842
Dec 2013	798
Jan 2014	853
Feb 2014	801
Mar 2014	782
Apr 2014	839
May 2014	831
Jun 2014	803
Jul 2014	852
Aug 2014	842

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

210462

Session

2014-15

Subjects

Probation Approved premises

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.parliament.uk