UK Offence Report

Enforcement of Articles 30B and 30C

regulation 31A(6) of The Special Educational Needs and Disability (Northern Ireland) Order 2005 (Amendment) (Further and Higher Education) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006

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

6 Paragraph (1) does not apply to an act which constitutes an offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

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.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach regulation 31A(6)?

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 Special Educational Needs and Disability (Northern Ireland) Order 2005 (Amendment) (Further and Higher Education) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

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
9 August 2006
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 note is not part of the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations implement (in Northern Ireland) the provisions of Council Directive 2000/78/EC (OJ No. L 303, 2.12.2000, p.16), establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation (“the Directive”), so far as it relates to disability discrimination but only insofar as the Directive’s obligations impact upon Chapter II of Part III of the Special Educational Needs and Disability (Northern Ireland) Order 2005 (S.I. 2005/1117 (N.I. 6)) (“the 2005 Order”). The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004 (S.R. 2004/55), which came into operation on 1st October 2004, implemented the Directive’s obligations with respect to Parts II and III of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. New Article 28(3A) of the 2005 Order prohibits discrimination as regards the conferment of qualifications by bodies responsible for educational institutions or the arrangements made for the purpose of conferring such qualifications. (Regulation 5) New Articles 28(3B) and 29A prohibit harassment by relevant institutions and define what harassment means. (Regulations 5 and 7) New Article 29(2) defines discrimination as failing to comply with a duty imposed to make reasonable adjustments. The extent and meaning of that duty is set out in new Articles 30(1) to (1D) and 30A(5). (Regulations 6, 8 and 10) New Article 29(5) to (11) amends the definition of “discrimination” and sets out the ambit of the justification defence for an act which constitutes discrimination. (Regulation 6) New Article 29(10) prohibits direct discrimination and defines the term “direct discrimination”. (Regulation 6) New Article 30(1) to (1D) imposes a duty to make reasonable adjustments in relation to admissions, student services, the conferment of qualifications and physical features of premises. (Regulation 8) New Article 30A prohibits discrimination and harassment and imposes duties to make reasonable adjustments in relationships which have come to an end. (Regulation 10) New Article 30B prohibits instructions and pressure to discriminate. (Regulation 10) New Article 30C prohibits publishing discriminatory advertisements. (Regulation 10) New Article 31(1A) makes provision for the burden of proof in proceedings brought under Chapter II. These Regulations also include transitional provisions concerning the burden of proof. (Regulations 3 and 11) New Article 31A sets out the enforcement procedure for articles 30B and 30C. (Regulation 12) These Regulations make provision for commencement on the day after they are made so far as enabling anything to be done for the purposes of preparing and bringing into operation on or after 1st September 2006 a code of practice under section 54A of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 concerning any provision of the 2005 Order as it will have effect on or after that date by virtue of these Regulations. Otherwise, the Regulations come into operation on 1st September 2006. (Regulation 1) A copy of the Transposition Notes in relation to the implementation of the Directive for Chapter II of Part III of the 2005 Order may be obtained from Further Education Division, Department for Employment and Learning, Adelaide House, 39-49 Adelaide Street, Belfast, BT2 8FD; and a copy has also been placed in the Library of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Read the full note and every offence in this 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 0.75.

Basis
the provision says the conduct “constitutes an offence”
Confidence
0.75 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