UK Offence Report

Provision of pharmaceutical services

paragraph 4(11)(b) of SCHEDULE 1 of The National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 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

b the person presenting the prescription form or serial prescription, or requesting the provision of drugs or appliances in accordance with an electronic prescription form or serial prescription, or any other person accompanying that person, commits or threatens to commit

a criminal 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 paragraph 4(11)(b) of SCHEDULE 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.

  1. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 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
14 May 2009
In force from
1 July 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 consolidate, with amendments, the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995 (“the 1995 Regulations”) and all subsequent amendments to them are revoked by regulation 17 and Schedule 5. These Regulations now regulate the terms on which pharmaceutical services are provided under the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978. The “Drug Tariff” referred to in regulation 12 is published monthly as a web-based version at – http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/2245.html. An annual hard copy is published on 1st April each year. To be added to the mailing list for the hard copy distribution, email: evadis@isd.csa.scot.nhs.uk. Amendments to the 1995 Regulations in this consolidation are largely minor or consequential drafting amendments. This includes a number of defined terms that have been added to, or updated, in regulation 2 (Interpretation and application). The terms and conditions for pharmacists and pharmacy contractors (Schedule 1, paragraph 4) have been amended to include provisions relating to the provision of a Chronic Medication Service (CMS). CMS is the provision by a pharmacist of pharmaceutical care to patients with long term conditions who have registered with that pharmacist for the CMS. The terms and conditions for pharmacists and pharmacy contractors also now include a requirement to keep appropriate records for at least seven years which must be made available for inspection on request by the Scottish Ministers, the relevant Health Board or the Common Services Agency. Pharmacy contractors must also designate a person engaged by them to hold responsibility for maintaining confidentiality of patient data (Schedule 1, paragraph 14). A duty on Health Boards to consult with the public when determining applications to be included in the pharmaceutical list is now provided for in paragraph 2 of Schedule 3.

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 0.92.

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