Bleak House is currently the venue for a three-week package of multiagency training in the field of child protection and public protection, arranged by the Strategic Management Board of MAPPA.

MAPPA, the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements, is a committee of different organisations including the Royal Gibraltar Police, Care Agency, Probation, HM Prison, GHA, Borders and Coastguard Agency, HM Customs, Housing Department, Drugs and Alcohol Rehabilitation Services and Department of Education. The Senior Management Board is chaired by Minister for Equality and Justice Samantha Sacramento MP. The Commissioner of Police is the Deputy Chair.

Within some of these agencies there are Designated Risk Managers, who are trained in specific risk assessment tools to monitor those who have sexually offended and are subject to monitoring requirements.

The training now in progress at Bleak House is provided by the Leonard Consultancy, a UK organisation which was awarded the title of Trainer of the Year in 2019 by the National Society for the Protection of Children/Association of Child Protection Professionals and with whom we have developed a professional working relationship over the years.

This package is the highest level of training ever provided in Gibraltar and, amongst several other subjects, it focuses on

• Assessing the Capacity and Ability to Protect in Families Living with Risk

• Achieving Best Evidence in Child Victim Interviews for Police and Social Work

• Assessing Risk in Adolescents who have sexually harmed

The package also provides refresher training for MAPPA agencies and multiagency training in Serious Case Reviews as well as allowing for MAPPA to deliver interventions and therapeutic programmes for those who have sexually offended against others.

The Minister for Equality and Justice, the Hon Samantha Sacramento MP, said: ‘I am delighted that we continue to provide multiagency training at such a high level to provide robust learning and support to staff who are dealing with these complex issues on a daily basis. We continue to work closely with Leonard Consultancy as we have done for several years and I am grateful to them for providing such expert advice and guidance on a subject that we are extremely committed to. It is great to see all relevant organisations continuing to work closely and coherently together as one team in order to achieve high level public protection’.