 Lay advisers are expected to help parents keep their children safe |
New moves to recruit members of the public to track paedophiles in the community have been welcomed by child support agencies. The measures, which will see ordinary people advise professional public protection panels, are expected to reassure local communities.
Lay adviser, Jacqui Francis, believes the new system will make matters clearer to the public.
"One of the benefits of this is that we are non-professionals," she said.
"We make things easier to understand for the general public. I ask how is this going to make people safe and why are we doing certain things.
"When we have professionals or outsiders coming in there is always tension to begin with, but this system gives a new perspective.
"At the end of the day if you have the choice of knowing where paedophiles are and you know they are being monitored, this has to be a good thing."
Convicted sex offenders
The government has refused to go as far as publishing the names and whereabouts of convicted sex offenders.
But ministers say this scheme has gone some way towards reassuring local communities.
 |  It gives lay members an opportunity to show what is being done and why things are being done  |
Liz Atkins, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at the NSPCC, believes the system will give the public a voice.
She said: "Child protection is everyone's business and community representation on these panels will help ensure that the views and concerns of the public will be taken into account by the statutory agencies.
"It is also important that the panels keep the public informed about how sex offenders operate in the community and provide advice to parents and carers on how to keep children safe."
Dr Ute Navidi, Head of Policy at ChildLine, supports the new scheme but she says all lay advisers should be carefully selected and vetted.
"It should lead to an increase in transparency of a very complex issue.
"It gives lay members an opportunity to show what is being done and why things are being done," she added.
Monitored and evaluated
Dr Navidi also believes that the effectiveness of the scheme should be monitored and evaluated after a certain period of time.
The system was tested in eight areas last year, and now 84 people are being recruited to join panels across England.
Steve Murphy, director general of the National Probation Service, said the recent pilots were "very valuable and they provided extra insights."
He added: "This is a way of getting public reassurance. As with anything you have jargon which tends to exclude ordinary people.
"But non-professionals are coming in to make things much clearer to the general public.
"I must stress though that this is not a solution, this is part of a big structure and it focuses on people who have been released."
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