In January 1998, the Minister for Home Affairs announced that the Social Work Services Inspectorate would inspect all sex offender cases supervised by Aberdeen Social Work Department, and such cases in a sample of other local authorities across Scotland, to assess compliance with National Objectives and Standards. This is the Report of these findings.
The report comments on the quality of work and the extent to which the improvements identified in the previous report "A Commitment to Protect" and in the independent unpublished report by Dr James McManus, are addressed in practice. In relation to adult offenders the following is considered: risk assessment, monitoring and oversight of offenders, personal change programmes, working with offending-related problems, effective practice and case management and supervision, and an assessment is given of the overall quality of these dimensions of supervision across Scotland.
In relation to the local authorities' work with young people, the following is examined: the extent to which sexual offending or sexual aggression is addressed by workers, and assessed the management of these cases against the regulations and guidance relating to work with children looked after by local authorities. The report by Dr James McManus was commissioned by Aberdeen City Council social work department, into the supervision of Steven Leisk, a convicted sex offender, who killed ten year old Scott Simpson whilst subject to supervision.