UK Offence Report

Interpretation

regulation 2(8) of The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Prescribed Criteria and Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009

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

8 For the purposes of paragraph (7) an act punishable under the law in force in

a country or territory outside the British Islands constitutes an offence under that law however it is described in that law.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 2(8)?

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 Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Prescribed Criteria and Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009.

Penalty

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

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

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
6 February 2009
In force from
13 March 2009
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 prescribe the criteria which determine whether a person should be included automatically in the children’s barred list or the adults’ barred list maintained by the Independent Barring Board (“IBB”) under Article 6 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Northern Ireland) Order 2007 (the IBB was established under section 1 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006). Regulation 4(1) restricts the criteria prescribed under Part 2 to offences committed in Northern Ireland only. Regulation 4(2) restricts the criteria under Part 2 to relevant foreign offences which are the equivalent of offences under Northern Ireland law only. The restrictions will apply for the transitory period only and are intended to ensure that individuals cannot be placed on more than one children’s barred list (or adults’ barred list) by the IBB. Regulation 5 prescribes the criteria on the basis of which a person will be included automatically in the children’s barred list without having the right to make representations. Regulation 6 prescribes the criteria on the basis of which a person will be included automatically in that list but then allowed to make representations as to why they should be removed from it. Regulation 5 addresses three categories of person. The first is someone who, before these Regulations came into operation, (i) was made subject to a disqualification order (an order of the court under Article 23 or 24 of the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 (N.I. 4)), (ii) met conditions under the Education (Prohibition from Teaching or Working with Children) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007 (S.R. 2007/288 – “the 2007 Regulations”) which meant that, had that order not been imposed, the Department of Education would still have been bound to prohibit that person from teaching or working with children without giving that person the right to make representations on the matter, but (iii) the Department of Education did not so prohibit that person. The second is someone who, before these Regulations came into operation, was convicted of or cautioned in relation to an offence meeting conditions under the 2007 Regulations which meant that the Department of Education would have been bound to prohibit that person from teaching or working with children without having the right to make representations on the matter, but the Department did not so prohibit that person. The third is someone who, on or after the coming into operation of these Regulations, has been convicted of or cautioned in relation to, an offence specified in paragraph 1 of the Schedule in any relevant circumstances, where these are prescribed, a “connected offence”, or a “relevant foreign offence” (these two last terms being defined in regulation 2). Regulation 6 addresses five categories of person. The first is someone who, before these Regulations came into operation, (i) was made subject to a disqualification order, (ii) did not meet conditions under the 2007 Regulations which, but for the imposition of that order, would have led to the Department of Education prohibiting that person from teaching or working with children without giving that person the right to make representations, and (iii) in relation to whom no such prohibition was made. The second is someone who, before these Regulations came into operation, was convicted of or cautioned in relation to an offence meeting conditions under the 2007 Regulations which meant that the Department of Education would have been bound to prohibit that person from teaching or working with children but also to have allowed that person to make representations on the matter, and in relation to whom no such prohibition was made. The third is someone who, on or after the coming into operation of these Regulations, has been made subject to a risk of sexual harm order (within the meaning of section 123 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (c. 42) or section 2 of the Protection of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2005 (asp 9)). The fourth is someone who, on or after the coming into operation of these Regulations, has been convicted of or cautioned in relation to, an offence specified in paragraph 2 of the Schedule in any relevant circumstances, where these are prescribed, a connected offence, or a relevant foreign offence. The fifth is someone who, on or after the coming into operation of these Regulations, is made subject to a disqualification order and who does not meet any other criteria prescribed by regulations 5 or 6. Regulation 7 prescribes the criteria on the basis of which a person will be included in the adults’ barred list without having the right to make representations. Regulation 8 does the same in relation to criteria on the basis of which a person will be included in that list but then have the right to make representations as to why they should be removed from it. The Schedule to these Regulations sets out the offences under the common law and statute law of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland which are prescribed for the purposes of these Regulations and, where relevant, the circumstances in which they must have been committed for a particular conviction or caution to meet criteria for automatic inclusion in either the children’s or adults’ barred list. For the purposes of determining whether any of the criteria is satisfied in relation to a person, the IBB must ignore any offence committed by, or any order or direction made in relation to, a person before he attained the age of 18. Regulation 9 amends the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Transitional Provisions) Order (Northern Ireland) 2008 (S.R. 2008/200) so that anyone who meets criteria prescribed by these Regulations and who is made subject to a disqualification order does not fall to be referred to IBB by the Department of Education in accordance with Article 3 of that 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 0.75.

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