A MAJOR review of the way sex offenders are managed in the community is to be conducted for the first time.
HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland and the Care Inspectorate are to look at how well the public is protected by the current arrangements for assessing and managing such criminals.
Existing multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) allow the police, local councils, the prison service and health boards to jointly assess and manage risk posed by sex offenders who have been released from jail and those given a non-custodial sentence.
At the moment there are about 3,500 sex offenders who are managed in the community, with a further 1,000 behind bars.
Annette Bruton, chief executive of the Care Inspectorate, said: "Where a sex offender is on licence or being supervised, there is, rightly, intense public interest in what is happening. The public rightly expects to be protected from risk and wants to know that all the agencies are working properly together.
"A large number of offenders are managed through these multi-agency arrangements but, fortunately, the number of serious incidents is relatively low.
"If things do go wrong, the Care Inspectorate plays an important role in making sure local authorities and their partners learn the right lessons.
"Now is a good time to examine how well the arrangements are working."
Derek Penman, HM Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland, said the MAPPA review was likely to take about a year and when it was completed a report would be published along with appropriate recommendations.
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