UK Offence Report

Amendment of the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Directions by Local Authorities) (Scotland)…

regulation 10(1)(b)(iv) of The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 (revoked)

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

11 If A has been required under this section to give A’s name and address and, without reasonable excuse, fails to do so, A will be guilty of an offence and liable, on summary conviction, to

a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum. .

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to comply with a notice or direction
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

quired under this section to give A’s name and address and, without reasonable excuse, fails to do so, A will be guilty of an offence and liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum. .

What would breach regulation 10(1)(b)(iv)?

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. Being served with a notice under the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  2. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  3. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£10,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
30 October 2020
In force from
2 November 2020
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 (which come into force at 6 a.m. on 2 November 2020) set out restrictions and requirements which apply in Scotland as a result of coronavirus. Different levels of restrictions and requirements (Level 0 to Level 4) are provided for in schedules 1 to 5 respectively of these Regulations. The levels apply to the local areas specified in schedule 6. The Regulations require certain premises to close to members of the public. They also require a person who is responsible for a place of worship, carrying on a business or providing a service to take measures, where reasonably practicable, to minimise the risk of exposure to coronavirus. Certain food and drink and public house businesses are made subject to restrictions on opening times and sales. A person who is responsible for a relevant hospitality premises is required to take measures to obtain and record visitor information, in a suitable filing system, for a period of at least 21 days. They must provide this information to a public health officer as soon as reasonably practicable if so requested for the purpose of preventing the spread of coronavirus or monitoring the spread of infection and the incidence of coronavirus disease. Persons responsible for a place of worship, for carrying on a business or providing a service are also required to have regard to guidance issued by the Scottish Ministers relating to its premises, business or service. These Regulations create restrictions on gatherings in public places and private dwellings, limiting the number of persons and households which can meet. There are exemptions to these restrictions. Part 3 of the Regulations also provides for the enforcement of these Regulations, including criminal offences (regulation 5), power of entry (regulation 6) and fixed penalty notices (regulation 7). At all levels, the Regulations require persons who use a passenger transport service or passenger transport service premises (which are both defined terms in the Regulations) to wear a face covering unless a specific exemption applies (schedule 7). They also require persons who use certain other places, which are listed in schedule 7, to wear a face covering unless a specific exemption applies. The Scottish Ministers must review the restrictions and requirements imposed by the Regulations at least once every 21 days and must terminate any restriction or requirement as soon as it is no longer necessary to prevent, protect against, control or provide a public health response to the incidence or spread of coronavirus in Scotland. The first review is required by 18 November 2020. These Regulations expire on 31 March 2021. These Regulations replace the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 and the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Additional Temporary Measures) (Scotland) Regulations 2020. A Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared. Copies may be obtained online atwww.legislation.gov.uk.

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 is “guilty of 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