UK Offence Report

Offence of breaching conditions of approval to hold larger live event in a Level 1 area

regulation 16(1) of The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 23) Regulations 2021

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

1 It is an offence for a person to contravene a condition imposed— a by a local authority under paragraph 12(2)(b), 14(2) or (3), or b by the Scottish Ministers by virtue of paragraph 15(3).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 a condition of a licence, permit or consent
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(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. On these words it is an offence to contravene a condition imposed— a by a local authority under paragraph 12(2)(b), 14(2) or (3), or b by the Scottish Ministers by virtue of paragraph 15(3).
  2. Holding a valid licence but doing the thing it allows outside the hours, place or limits its conditions set under the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 23) Regulations 2021.
  3. Failing to do something a condition positively requires - a record, a notification, a monitoring step - even though the licensed activity itself is carried on properly.

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
14 May 2021
In force from
17 May 2021
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 amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 (“the Local Levels Regulations”). These Regulations come into force on 17 May 2021. Regulation 3 amends regulation 2 of the Local Levels Regulations to include a definition of “live event”, and to make further provision relating to that definition. Regulation 2 also amends regulation 2 of the Local Levels Regulations to clarify the interpretation of “gathering”. Regulation 4 amends regulation 4 of the Local Levels Regulations to extend the purposes for which a local authority may designate a person for enforcement purposes to include the provisions of Part 4 (restrictions on stadia and live events) in each of schedules 1, 2 and 3. Regulation 5 amends regulation 6(5) of the Local Levels Regulations to change the number of persons which a constable must reasonably suspect to be at a gathering in a private dwelling before the power of entry in regulation 6(1) of the Local Levels Regulations may be exercised. Amendments to schedules 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the Local Levels Regulations at regulations 6(2), 7(2), 8(4), 9(2) and 10(2) adjust physical distancing requirements for children under 12. Persons responsible for places of worship, businesses or providing services are currently required to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, that people on their premises or waiting to enter maintain a physical distance from each other, unless excepted from this requirement. These amendments add children under the age of 12 to the list of excepted persons. Amendments to schedules 1, 2, and 3 of the Local Levels Regulations at regulations 6(3), 7(3), and 8(5) remove the restriction on organised public processions up to specified numbers of persons and specified durations. Amendments to schedules 1, 2, and 3 of the Local Levels Regulations at regulations 6(4), 7(4), and 8(7) provide that live events can take place in Level 0, 1 and 2 areas up to specified limits. An event organiser may apply to a local authority for an exemption to the relevant capacity limits. A local authority may approve a capacity exemption application for a live event, and may make that approval subject to conditions. A local authority has power to vary and revoke those approvals. The Scottish Ministers may call in, for determination by them, a capacity exemption application. Regulation 8(6) amends paragraph 13(1)(za) of the Local Levels Regulations to increase the number of persons who are permitted to gather indoors in a private dwelling to 6 persons from 3 households. Amendments to schedule 6 of the Local Levels Regulations at regulation 11 provide for different Levels to apply in different parts of Scotland, as set out in the table. There are consequential amendments to schedules 4 and 5 of the Local Levels Regulations at regulations 9(3), (4) and (5) and regulation 10(3) to adjust travel controls to and from Level 3 and 4 areas.

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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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