UK Offence Report

2 Any person who contravenes any of the regulations in paragraph (1) shall be liable on summary conviction…

regulation 16(2) of Local Government (Accounts and Audit) 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

2 Any person who contravenes any of the regulations in paragraph (1) shall be liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

3 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 16(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. On these words an offence is committed where a person contravenes any of the regulations in paragraph (1).
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Local Government (Accounts and Audit) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£1,000
Standard scale
Level 3
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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.

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
7 March 2006
In force from
1 April 2006
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 are made under Article 24 of the Local Government (Northern Ireland) Order 2005 (the 2005 Order). They make provision with respect to the accounts and audit of local government bodies whose accounts are required to be audited in accordance with Part II of the 2005 Order. Regulation 3 makes provision in respect of the accounting records and control systems that are to be kept by the local government bodies to which these Regulations apply. Regulation 4 makes provision for the chief financial officer of a local government body to prepare a statement of accounts for each financial year in the form directed by the Department of the Environment (the Department) The regulation also requires the chief financial officer to sign, date and certify the statement of accounts and deliver to the Department, within such period after the expiration of the financial year as the Department direct, such number of copies of the statement of accounts as the Department directs. Regulation 5 makes provision in respect of the approval and signing of the statement of accounts by a local government body and lays down procedures for occasions when the statement of accounts cannot be agreed. Regulation 6 makes provision for a local government body to publish its statement of accounts not later than 31st October immediately following the end the financial year. The statement of accounts is to be published, together with any certificate, opinion or report issued, given or made by the local government auditor, or, in the case where publication takes place prior to the conclusion of an audit and no such opinion has been given, a declaration and an explanation of the fact the auditor has given no opinion. Regulation 7 requires a local government auditor to appoint a date on or after which an interested person (i.e. a local elector, a person liable for rates in the district of the local government body or a representative of those persons) may exercise his rights under Articles 17(2) and 18(1) of the 2005 Order. Article 17(2) provides that an interested person is entitled to question the auditor about the accounts and Article 18(1) provides that he may attend before the auditor and make objections regarding the accounts. Regulation 8 requires that a local government body must make its accounts and other documents available for public inspection for 20 working days before the date appointed by the local government auditor under regulation 7. Regulation 9 provides that the accounts and other documents made available for public inspection shall not be altered after they have been made available, except with the consent of the auditor. Regulation 10 requires a local government body to publish a notice about matters relating to the right of public inspection of accounts and other documents. The notice must be published public at least 14 days before the start of the period during which the accounts and other documents are to be made available pursuant to regulation 8. Regulation 11 makes provision in respect of the contents of any written notice of a proposed objection that an interested person must give the local government auditor. Regulation 12 provides that, after the conclusion of an audit, a local government body must publish a notice advising that the audit of its accounts has been concluded and that its accounts are available for inspection by members of the public. Regulation 13 makes provision in respect of the publication of the annual audit letter that a local government body receives from the local government auditor. Regulation 14 requires that, prior to the publication of the notice referred to in regulation 12, a joint committee must give each of its constituent councils a copy of the local government auditor’s report and its statement of accounts. Regulation 15 makes provision relating to the notice that must be given by a local government body in the event that the Department directs a local government auditor to hold an extraordinary audit of the accounts of that body. Regulation 16 declares that the contravention of certain regulations is an offence and provides that the penalty for any such contravention shall not exceed a fine of level 3 on the standard scale on summary conviction, as provided for by Article 24(3) of the 2005 Order.

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 0.72.

Basis
the provision states liability on summary conviction; the provision states a penalty in older drafting
Confidence
0.72 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