All Scots parents get right to find out about sex offenders

The 36-week disclosure trial in Tayside has been praised for reassuring parents and keeping police informed about the movements of former criminals.

It led to one registered sex offender being returned to prison for breaching bail conditions, and triggered 25 child concern reports. Crucially, it did not spark vigilante attacks or cause sex offenders to go underground.

The only negative feedback was from neighbours, friends and other relatives, who raised concerns but were not entitled to disclosure because they were not parents, carers or guardians.

The scheme will be expanded to Fife and Central Scotland tomorrow, and rolled out across Scotland over the coming months. It is expected to cost 360,000 to introduce, but after that will not lead to additional running costs.

Breaches of sex offender orders rose by more than a third last year, from 79 in 2008-9 to 110 in 2009-10.

Justice secretary Kenny MacAskill said: "Scotland is one of the leading countries in the world in terms of its approach to the management of sex offenders, and we will continue to strengthen our approaches for dealing with them. That's exactly why we introduced this pilot in Tayside, and it has been a real success.

"Today's report shows that it has enhanced existing child protection arrangements whilst giving parents greater reassurance and peace of mind.

"The feedback from parents, carers and guardians has been extremely positive and we have no hesitation in rolling the scheme out right across the country. This initiative provides another link which will assist in protecting children from harm."As with any pilot, there will be improvements to processes which can be made and any lessons learned will now be taken on board by Scotland's police forces and fed into the disclosure scheme as it is rolled out in other communities in Scotland."

In total, there were 53 inquiries made over the course of the Tayside pilot, with the majority coming from parents.

Assistant Chief Constable Iain Livingstone, of Lothian and Borders Police and the spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland on child protection, said: "The police service in Scotland welcomes the implementation of the sex offender disclosure scheme in Fife and Central Scotland.

"The scheme adds to existing child-protection measures, increasing the intelligence police have in relation to monitoring offenders, adding to our ability to protect children and other vulnerable members of our community."

Anne Houston, chief executive of the charity Children 1st, added: "We have been helping the Scottish Government to develop this initiative for a number of years now.

"To protect Scotland's children, we need to improve the monitoring and supervision of people who have harmed children before and this is a significant step in the right direction.

"This scheme empowers parents and carers by providing them with relevant information about individuals who have access to their children."