UK Offence Report

Summoning of witnesses

regulation 17(2) of The Care Tribunal Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005

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

2 The summons must –

a explain that it is an offence under Article 44(5) of the Order to fail, without reasonable excuse, to comply with it; and

b explain the right to apply under this regulation to have it varied or set aside.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

it is an offence under Article 44(5) of the Order to fail, without reasonable excuse, to comply with it; and b explain the right to apply under this regulation to have it varied or set aside.

What would breach regulation 17(2)?

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.

  1. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Care Tribunal Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to Article 44(5) of the Order.

penalty is that of the referenced enactment; not stated in this instrument.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

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.

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
21 March 2005
In force from
1 April 2005
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 note is not part of the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations come into operation on 1st April 2005 and make provision about the proceedings of the Care Tribunal established by Article 44 of the Health and Personal Social Services (Quality, Improvement and Regulation) (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 (“the Order”). The Regulations make provision for the conduct of proceedings of the Care Tribunal under Article 22 of the Order, Articles 78A and 94A of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (as inserted by the Order), Articles 78(3) and 94(3) of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, Article 11 of the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (Northern Ireland) Order 2003, Articles 70 (2) and 88A(2) (as amended by the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (Northern Ireland) Order 2003) of the Education and Libraries Order (Northern Ireland) 1986, Articles 28 and 42 of the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (Northern Ireland) Order 2003, and Article 15 of the Health and Personal Social Services Act (Northern Ireland) 2001. The Social Care Tribunal Rules (Northern Ireland) 2003 are revoked. Part I makes provision in respect of citation, commencement and interpretation (regulation 1). Part II makes provision as to the constitution of the Care Tribunal, in respect of the powers and functions which may be exercised by the Chairman (regulation 2) and Secretary and the requirements for membership of the lay panel (regulation 3). Part III refers, for each type of appeal, determination and application for leave to the relevant Schedule to the Regulations which sets out the procedural steps to be followed by the parties (regulation 4). Part IV makes provision about case management. These provisions deal with the appointment of the Tribunal (regulation 5), the giving of directions (regulation 6), the fixing and notification of the appeal hearing (regulation 7), appeals against secondary listing under the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 (regulation 8), multiple appeals where the Chairman can direct that certain appeals are heard together (regulation 9) and further directions (regulation 10). Regulation 11 provides for the Tribunal to be able to make unless orders, whilst provision is made for copies of documents (regulation 12), disclosure of information and documents including the power to order persons who are not parties to the appeal to disclose documents to the Tribunal (regulation 13), the appointment of expert witnesses by the Tribunal (regulation 14), evidence of witnesses (regulation 15), withholding medical reports from disclosure in exceptional circumstances (regulation 16), the summoning of witnesses (regulation 17), the procedure for child and vulnerable adult witnesses (regulation 18), restricted reporting orders (regulation 19) and exclusion of the press or public from the appeal hearing (regulation 20). Part V makes provision for the procedure at the hearing. Regulation 21 provides for the procedure at the hearing which is decided by the Care Tribunal in any particular case. Regulation 22 provides that the hearing must be in public subject to limited exceptions. Regulation 23 provides for the manner in which evidence is given at the hearing. Part VI makes provision about the way in which decisions are given and communicated to the parties to the appeal (regulation 24), the award of costs (regulation 25), the right of the appellant to ask the Care Tribunal to review its own decision (regulation 26), the powers of the Tribunal on review (regulation 27) and the publication of the decision (regulation 28). Part VII deals with supplementary matters. Regulation 28 provides for the method of sending documents, regulation 29 provides for dealing with any irregularities, regulation 30 makes provision for cases where the applications are made on behalf of a person under a disability, regulation 31 provides for cases where the applicant dies, regulation 32 provides for the amendment of the reasons for an appeal or application for leave or response to the appeal or application, regulation 33 provides for withdrawal of proceedings or opposition to proceedings, regulation 34 makes provision for the proof of documents and certification of decisions and regulation 35 provides for extending time limits in the Regulations. Part VIII deals with revocation of the Care Tribunal Rules (Northern Ireland) 2003 and makes provision in respect of things done under those Regulations (regulation 37). There are 6 Schedules to the Regulations which make provision in respect of the procedure to be followed on appeals, determinations and applications for leave (where they are required). The Schedules make provisions about the documents which the applicant must send to the Care Tribunal in order to initiate an appeal, the procedure for the Secretary to follow when an appeal is made, and information which the respondent must send to the Care Tribunal and further information to be supplied to the Care Tribunal by both parties to enable the Care Tribunal to give directions. Schedule 1 deals with appeals under Part III of the Order. Schedule 2 deals with appeals under Articles 78A and 94A of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995. Schedule 3 deals with appeals and applications for leave to appeal against a decision to prohibit or restrict the person’s employment or further employment or a decision not to revoke or vary such a decision and application for leave for review of prohibition on restriction under the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 and the Education and Libraries Order (Northern Ireland) 1986. Schedule 4 makes provision for applications for review and applications for leave to review disqualification from working with children under Articles 27 and 28 of the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (Northern Ireland) Order 2003. Schedule 5 provides for appeals and applications for leave under Article 42 of the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (Northern Ireland) Order 2003. Schedule 6 provides for appeals under Section 15 of the Health and Personal Social Services Act (Northern Ireland) 2001 against a decision of the Council in respect of registration under Part I of that Act.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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