Duty to provide information: offences

article 40(1) of The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Northern Ireland) Order 2007

Status not determined
Strict liability
Either way
Education, social security, pensions and public services

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

1 A person commits an offence if— a he is required under Article 37 or 38 or in pursuance of Article 39 to provide information to IBB, and b he fails, without reasonable excuse, to provide the information.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds: a person
Conduct: breaching the provision
Fault element: Strict liability
Burden of proof: An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

f Article 39 to provide information to IBB, and b he fails, without reasonable excuse, to provide the information.

What would breach article 40(1)?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Northern Ireland) Order 2007.

Penalty

Mode of trial: Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine: £5,000
Standard scale: Level 5
Maximum prison (summary): Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment): 6 months

in Northern Ireland a reference to a level is construed as referring to the standard scale as it currently stands (Fines and Penalties (NI) Order 1984 art.5(3)), not as it stood when the instrument was made.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Imposition of community and custodial sentences: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
When a community order or custody is justified at all, and the presumption against short custodial sentences.
Reduction in sentence for a guilty plea: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 June 2017
The sliding scale of credit for pleading guilty, from one third at the first stage of proceedings downwards.
General guideline: overarching principles All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2019
The guideline a court uses when there is no offence-specific guideline, which is the position for the overwhelming majority of offences created by statutory instrument. It sets out how culpability and harm are assessed from first principles.
Totality: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
How to sentence more than one offence at once so that the total is just and proportionate - frequently in point here, because regulatory prosecutions commonly charge several breaches of the same instrument.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status: Status not determined
Made: 2 May 2007
In force from: Not determined
Extent: Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

This Order makes provision in connection with the protection of children and vulnerable adults. It is made only for purposes corresponding to those of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (c. 47).

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

SCHEDULE 4SCHEDULE 4
Barred person not to engage in regulated activityarticle 11(1)
Person not to engage in regulated activity unless subject to monitoringarticle 12(1)
Person not to engage in regulated activity unless subject to monitoringarticle 12(2)
Person not to engage in regulated activity unless subject to monitoringarticle 12(3)
Use of barred person for regulated activityarticle 13(1)
Use of barred person for regulated activityarticle 13(2)
Use of person not subject to monitoring for regulated activityarticle 14(1)
Use of person not subject to monitoring for regulated activityarticle 14(2)
Regulated activity provider: failure to checkarticle 15(1)
Regulated activity provider: failure to checkarticle 15(8)
Educational establishments: check on members of governing bodyarticle 17(1)

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.92.

Basis: the provision says a person “commits an offence”
Confidence: 0.92 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source

This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Northern Ireland) Order 2007 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
Education, social security, pensions and public servicesOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 2007