Approved Premises

Formerly known as either probation or bail hostels, the properties became known as Approved Premises once recognised under section 13 of the Offender Management Act 2007. They are still commonly called bail hostels in the media, There are one hundred Approved Premises in England and Wales, providing over two thousand residential bed spaces for offenders in the community, In 2006, fourteen of the hundred hostels were banned by the Ministry of Justice from housing child sex offenders after a media campaign due to those hostels' proximity to schools and nurseries. and in one case led to a child sex offender being housed temporarily in a Premier Inn hotel. In addition, the clustering of APs in certain areas have led to them being blamed for the increasing numbers of registered sex offenders in the surrounding areas. While staff provide support to the offenders and run programmes to address offending issues, A report looked into the APs in Northern Ireland during 2008, and reported on their uneven distribution throughout the region and the volume of work conducted by staff. All of the Northern Irish APs are run by voluntary or community providers. ==Local opposition==

There can be opposition to locating an Approved Premises in a community, with certain communities mounting protests against them. A particularly long running campaign has been run against an AP in Stonall Road, Aldridge by the local residents. Local media in that case have highlighted when high-profile offenders, including child sex offenders, have been resident. Reports have shown that local opposition is a major obstacle to opening APs in new locations, the current number of hostels has remained relatively stable in the last five years. The program showed a child sex offender interacting with children, and even bringing one into his room at the hostel. Brigstocke Road was identified as a property near to a nursery and became one of the properties which later had a ban on it housing child sex offenders. Ashley House was unaffected. ==See also==