The Criminal Justice and Court Services Act (2000) established the MAPPA and placed them on a statutory basis. The Criminal Justice Act (2003) re-enacted and strengthened those provisions.

The legislation requires the Police, Prison and Probation Services (acting jointly as the 'Responsible Authority') in each of the 35 Probation Trust's across England and Wales:
. to establish arrangements for assessing and managing the risks posed by sexual
and violent offenders;
. to review and monitor the arrangements;
. as part of the reviewing and monitoring arrangements, to prepare and publish an
annual report on their operation.

A range of other agencies have also been placed under a duty to co-operate with the Responsible Authority.
These include:
. Local Authority Social Services
. Primary Care Trusts, other NHS Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities
. Jobcentres Plus
. Youth Offending Teams
. Registered Social Landlords which accommodate MAPPA offenders
. Local Housing Authorities
. Local Education Authorities
. Electronic Monitoring providers

There is also a requirement to appointment two lay advisors to each of strategic management boards that review the MAPPA.

MAPPA is the term to describe the arrangements set up locally to assess and manage offenders who pose a risk of serious harm.

National MAPPA guidance indicates the use of 3 levels of management:
Level 1: involves ordinary agency management

Level 2: referred to as local inter-agency management, where the active involvement of more than one agency is required to manage the offender. Most offenders assessed as high or very high risk of serious harm can be managed at Level 2 where the management plans do not require the attendance and commitment of resources at a senior level.

Level 3: Level 3 activity meetings are known in all Areas as Multi-Agency Public Protection Panels (or MAPPPs). The few cases referred to MAPPPs are those of offenders whose management is so problematic that multi-agency co-operation and oversight at a senior level is required, together with the authority to commit exceptional resources to strengthen the risk management plan.

There are three categories of offenders managed through MAPPA.
Category 1: Registered Sex Offenders - offenders required to comply with the notification requirements (often referred to as registration) set out in the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

Category 2: Violent or other sex offenders - violent offenders sentenced to imprisonment for 12 months or more, sex offenders not required to register, and offenders detained under hospital orders.

Category 3: Other Offenders - offenders who do not fall into categories 1 or 2, but because of the offences committed by them (wherever they have been committed) are considered to pose a risk of serious harm to the public.

Sexual Offences Prevention Orders, Notification Orders and Foreign Travel Orders are intervention tools that restrict the behaviour of offenders and can be applied for through the courts with the intention of preventing them committing serious further offences.

Sexual Offences Prevention Orders place prohibitions on behaviour and can be used where an offender with a conviction or caution for an offence listed in Schedule 3 or Schedule 5 is considered to pose a risk of serious sexual harm. It does not matter when the conviction or caution was received.

Notification Orders require sexual offenders who have been convicted overseas to register with police, in order to protect the public in the UK from the risks that they pose.

Foreign Travel Orders prevent offenders with convictions for sexual offences against children from travelling abroad where it is necessary to do so to protect children from the risk of sexual harm.

A breach of these orders, without reasonable excuse, is a criminal offence with a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment.

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