Dundee is the lead council for the Tayside CJA, one of eight set up to cover the whole of Scotland, which comprises representatives from the three Tayside local authorities.

The CJAs will shadow the existing criminal justice arrangements for 12 months before taking over completely.

A report before today’s meeting, by Dundee criminal justice service manager Jane Martin and Detective Superintendent Jim Cameron of Tayside Police, outlined changes to the way high risk offenders are to be assessed and managed.

The officers said legislation provided a statutory function for councils, the Scottish Prison Service, the police and the health service to establish joint arrangements for assessment and management of certain sexual, violent and mentally disturbed offenders who pose a risk to the public.

From September this year, Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPAs) will be introduced across Scotland.

These are aimed at enabling agencies to target resources at those offenders assessed as presenting the highest risks.

Detailed guidance on the operation of MAPPAs will be issued shortly and agencies — particularly criminal justice social work and the police — will be required to review existing arrangements.

This will necessitate a change in the way case conferences for high risk offenders are conducted.

Arrangements for sex offenders will be introduced first.

The officers recommended, and authority members agreed, that a group of officials be set up to progress the operational arrangements for the implementation of MAPPAs in Tayside and that the CJA liaise with other relevant agencies to prepare information sharing protocols.

Tayside’s CJA came in for praise from representatives of partner organisations, including the Scottish Prison Service, NCH Scotland and NHS Tayside, for having “hit the ground running” and being ahead of the game in terms of getting the new body established.